


Harry Potter and the Red-Headed Alien Warrior

by Masterweaver



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-07-04 23:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 50,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterweaver/pseuds/Masterweaver
Summary: Ever since He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated, rumors ran rampant through the wizarding world about one Boy-Who-Lived. Now, he's finally attending school... alongside a mysterious, cheery woman with blood-red hair and silver eyes who he calls his sister. Harry Potter and Ruby Rose are just here to learn magic, but they'll find so much more in the halls of Hogwarts...





	1. Family, Old and New

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I've never been to Hogwarts, Beacon, or Oxbridge, and can claim no influence on any of the students or staff.

June the fifteenth was an ordinary day for the inhabitants of 4 Privet Drive house in Little Whinging. Dudley Dursley, a somewhat overweight young lad, was busy playing with his toys-the armored warrior was heroically decapitating the evil sorcerer, again. His father, a bloated figure by the name of Vernon, would occasionally look over his paper to check on the lad, but was honestly more absorbed with the articles in his newspaper; a few were actually quite interesting, although only a few. His wife of thirteen years, one Petunia, was pottering about in the kitchen as she planned a cake recipe for her Duddikin's upcoming eleventh birthday. Their family wasn't _quite_ normal, but that was only due to the lack of another boy and girl for Dudley to riff off of and, on the whole, his mother quite preferred it that way. As much as she loved her baby, every woman had her limits.

And then... there was a knock at the door. It wasn't the polite knock of door-to-door salesman, nor was it the frantic knock of those running for their lives, or even a simple pound of anger. No, it was the over-enthusiastic knock of an american cousin, come to spend the holidays in a 'foreign country' whilst presumably flirting with every fine lad/sweet lass as per appropriate and shedding money like a dog in spring. This was rather odd, as neither Vernon nor Petunia had any relatives in America they knew about; as such, they did not recognize the knock.

"I suppose I'll get that," sighed Petunia, putting down the flour and walking to the foyer. "I do wonder, who could it be?"

Vernon snorted. "I do hope it's one of those girls who has cookies to give us."

Petunia opened the door-and was promptly assaulted by a pair of surprisingly powerful arms wrapping around her and lifting her off the ground.

"OH MY GOSH IT IS SO GOOD TO FINALLY MEET YOU!" Her captor squeezed the air out of her lungs for a moment, before plunking her gasping back on the floor. "You know, I really should have visited earlier. So irresponsible of me. Oh, Harry! This is your aunt Petunia! I mean, you are Petunia, right? I didn't get the wrong house again, did I?"

"I... yes, my name's Petunia," she managed, looking at the strange red-headed woman who had just nearly killed her. "What do you-?"

"That's great!" The woman grinned, picking up two very large suitcases-a strangely familiar young boy with a backpack and suitcase of his own followed her as she entered the house. "You would not believe how embarrassing it was over at 4 _Prince_ drive, although I'm pretty sure they laughed it off. And who are these two fine gentlemen?" she asked as she strode into the living room.

Vernon Dursley stood, scowling at the strange lady and her entourage. "Miss, I don't know who you are or why you think you can just stride into my home uninvited-"

"My name's Ruby Rose," she replied breezily. "I'm a world renowned troubleshooter."

"She means assassin," clarified the young boy.

The woman glowered at him. "Harry Potter, be polite. This is our family." She sniffed disdainfully. "And not _every_ contract I have is about killing people, thank you very much."

"No, some are about killing animals."

At that, the woman dropped her suitcases and lightly bopped him on the head. "Just for that, I'm sending you to your room." She smiled at Vernon. "By the way, which one _is_ his room?"

"I-I shall have none of this!" declared the head of house. "Random visitors dropping in and claiming rooms for themselves-It's complete balderdash, I tell you!"

"You mean you didn't get the notice?" The woman sighed. "Well, this is awkward then. Don't mess with that, nephew," she added as Dudley reached for one of the suitcases, "there's a dangerous weapon in there, and I don't mean my panties."

"Notice?" Vernon asked, confused.

_"Nephew?"_ Dudley added, nonplussed.

_"Weapon?!"_ Petunia shrieked, suddenly rushing into the room.

_"PANTIES?!"_ Harry shouted, leaping back with mock horror on his face.

Ruby Rose rolled her eyes. "I see I've got some explaining to do." She unzipped part of her suitcase and pulled out a plastic baggie. "Anybody for cookies?"

* * *

The cookies had calmed the Dursleys, somewhat. Dudley was happy to accept them without question, and both Vernon and Petunia had been mollified by the offering-although Petunia was still holding hers, warily glancing between it and the redhead that was even now inhaling her fifth.

"So... how do I explain this?" Ruby swallowed the last of her food, adjusting her red hood. "You see, Harry here has been accepted into a prestigious academy, one that will provide lodgings-well, except during the summers. Part of the deal is that we had to find someplace to hunker down while school was out, and the deputy headmistress did mention Petunia was his aunt so... here we are." She shrugged with an awkward grin. "She did say they'd send you a notice about the whole thing, but I guess there's a paperwork delay or something. Really, we'd only be here between June and September... and on holidays, if you're up for that. I'm willing to pay five hundred a month while we're here, of course, and we can negotiate over price-"

"Excuse me," Vernon interjected, "but I believe you must be confused. My wife has no siblings."

"Well, not _anymore_ ," Ruby replied. "Miss McGonagall told me Harry's birth mother was... ah, murdered." She coughed. "Which is... tragic, and if I'm opening old wounds I apologize-"

Dudley frowned. "I thought aunt Lily died in a car crash?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Sometimes grown-ups think we're too young to handle the truth, so they say things that are only kind of true."

"Oh. Like how every time I ask where babies come from, the teachers at school-"

"Dudley," Petunia ground out, "I would like for you to go to your room. Now."

"But mother-"

" _Now,_ young man!"

"It's alright," Harry assured his cousin. "They just want to talk about things they don't want us hearing about. You have any games we can play?"

"Well, there is this thing called Monopoly..."

Petunia watched the two boys wander upstairs, fingers digging into her cookie for a few seconds, before turning back to Ruby. "What school, exactly, has Harry been accepted into?"

"Oh, it's... Fog wars? Hedge warp?" Ruby snapped her fingers a couple of times. "Sorry, I only just heard about it two weeks ago- _Hogwarts!_ That's the name, Hogwarts. I understand his parents both attended."

"I see." With utmost calm, Petunia put her teacup down. "Miss Rose, I don't know if you're familiar with the classwork of that particular institute, but I can assure you that from what I saw of my sister's time there it is simply... vulgar. If you want my advice, you would be better off finding a normal school for Harry to attend."

Ruby frowned. "Are you talking about the whole magic thing? Cause yeah, that's a little weird, but I wouldn't call it vulgar."

Petunia rolled her eyes. "Yes, miss Rose, I am in fact talking about magic. I think I'd have had a little more experience with it than you-unless you're a witch yourself?"

The redhead waggled her hand. "Ehhh... apparently I do have _some_ magic, but I didn't ever attend a school for witchcraft so... Miss McGonagall thinks maybe I was overlooked because of everything that was going on back then. I'll be attending with Harry, remedial lessons in basically everything."

Petunia blinked. "Back then...? Miss Rose, how old _are_ you?"

"Oh, I'm twenty five." She chuckled wryly. "Yeah, I know, a little young to have a kid-I found Harry on a doorstep when I was fifteen and I was actually going to take him to an orphanage but, well, one thing led to another and in the end I adopted him myself. That was quite the adventure, let me tell you-"

Vernon cleared his throat. "To return to the point at hand... Magic is an unnatural and incomprehensible thing, and we are quite frankly unwilling to house anyone with that sort of... freakishness."

"...Freakishness." Ruby Rose was, technically, still smiling. But her silver eyes now glinted dangerously. "I see."

Very calmly, she got up, brushed her skirt off, and walked into the kitchen. She picked up a large knife, held it in her hands... then in full view of the Durselys, snapped it in half.

Vernon jumped to his feet. "How dare you-!"

"Metal. Forged by machines, made by man. Unnatural." With extreme calm, she unplugged microwave oven and held it up. "Circuitry. Grains of dust, perfectly arranged and aligned."

"Don't-!" Petunia cried, too late, as Ruby smashed the thing over her knee.

"Incomprehensible," Ruby continued coolly. She reached into a cabinet, pulling out a tumbler. "Glass. Sand, pressed in heat, and shaped by breath."

The thing shattered in her fingers.

"Freakish."

Vernon growled. "You _monster_."

"Monster? Come on." Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm a world reknowned troubleshooter, I've been cursed at in more languages than you've ever heard of. If you're going to insult me, be creative about it!"

"You come in here, demand a room, and smash our things when you don't get your way!"

"Oh, I'm quite willing to pay for replacements. And honestly, I don't see why you're complaining-you get an extra thousand pounds a year at least, a live-in extra set of hands to help around the house, and _you_ -" She pointed at Petunia- "get the chance to reconnect with your nephew. If you're really that worried about the magic thing, fine, no magic in the house."

Her eyes narrowed. "But if there's one thing I've learned in all my travels, it's that considering anything freakish, or unnatural, or incomprehensible-that's a first step. The next is not listening. And then not caring. And before you know it, you've become the sort of person who will shove somebody off a bridge just to get home faster." She took a breath. "So, if you really don't want us here, fine, we'll find a hotel or something. But if you ever say anything is just unnatural again... if you refuse to listen to people who are just a little different..."

Ruby Rose gave them a sardonic smile. "Well. Let's just say I know quite a few people and leave it at that."

Petunia glanced down, wringing her hands nervously.

"...A thousand."

Vernon turned to her in confusion. "What?"

"A thousand pounds. A month." She looked up. "And that's on top of replacing what you've broken."

Ruby nodded. "Done."

"Petunia-"

"Vernon, please. I don't like this. But..." She looked at her husband, flicking her eyes toward their 'guest.'

"...Feh. Alright." Vernon turned back to Ruby. "But you'd better make sure there's no funny business!"

"Okey doke!"

"And I don't just mean magic, either, I mean... men, o-or wild parties, all that stuff you young folk get into!"

"Alright, alright. Uh, sometimes my work follows me home, are you alright with me whipping out Crescent Rose if somebody's trying to kill you?"

Petunia blinked. "Crescent... what?"

With a grin, Ruby hopped over to one of her suitcases and popped it open, taking out the largest gun either of them had ever seen. "Meet my baby girl!"

Vernon stared for ten seconds, and then fainted dead away.

* * *

Ruby Rose rested on the roof, looking up at the half-darkened moon above her. In total silence, she reached into her pockets, pulling out a small pane of glass bracketed by grey plastic. Her fingers tapped at it for a moment, a simple pattern done many times before, dispelling the now all too familiar message and flicking through a few images. A sigh escaped her lips as she browsed through them.

Then a grunt caught her attention. With a roll of her eyes, she pocketed the device and stood, carefully walking to the raingutter.

"Harry, what have I said about climbing on top of buildings?"

The black-haired boy smirked, even as Ruby grabbed his arm. "Never do it without supervision. And here you are, unsupervised."

"I resent that! I can supervise myself!" She took a second to ensure he was stable. "I'm an adult, you know!"

"An adult that broke a microwave over her knee." Harry brushed his knees off, his expression growing serious. "What was with that, anyway? You've never done that before."

"I might have!"

"No, you've never done it in front of me, you've never done it when you were showing off to clients, and I've certainly never heard of you doing it on one of your contracts." Harry crossed his arms. "I'm worried about you, sis. This isn't like you at all."

Ruby frowned, sitting down beside him. "You don't need to worry about me, Harry. I'll be fine."

"Just because I'm a kid doesn't mean I can't be worried about you." He sat down himself. "If you don't tell me, I could always ask Petunia."

" _Aunt_ Petunia," Ruby corrected him.

" _Potential_ Aunt Petunia," Harry countered.

" _Biological_ Aunt Petunia," Ruby reminded.

"You're diverting the conversation," Harry accused. "What happened with the microwave?"

Ruby let out a long, slow sigh. "They... Vernon. He said some things about... magic." Her eyes drifted to the grass below. "Called it freakish."

"So he's a bigot. Alright." The boy shrugged. "I'm totally fine finding somewhere else to live."

"Harry, this is your _family_. Family is important."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Ruby, _you're_ my family. These are just people that happen to share some genes with me."

"I should never have stolen you away from them."

"You didn't know that they existed back then-"

"Well now I _do_ ," Ruby snapped. "And I'm going to fix my mistake. Or at least try, because..."

She trailed off, arms crossed.

Harry stared at her for a moment. Then he gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Alright. We'll try it for a bit. Just... don't break any more appliances, alright?"

Ruby managed a small huff of amusement. "You have my solemn oath, mister Potter. You need help getting down?"

"I'm good. It was just the gutter giving me trouble, I can climb the rest of the way down." He stood, turning to go.

After a few steps, he glanced back to see Ruby staring at the moon again.

"...It was today, wasn't it? Ten years ago. It was today."

"...Get some rest Harry." Ruby didn't turn her head. "We're going wand shopping tomorrow."

The boy opened his mouth... and after a moment, shut it, backing off and clambering back down to ground level. Ruby kept an ear out until she heard the door shut below her.

Her hand went back to the glass pane in her pocket, bringing it back out. Again she dismissed the 'no signal' message, browsing through the images once more... until she stopped on one particular picture. A far younger redhead, with a tall and busty blonde wrapping an arm around her shoulders and making rabbit ears behind an unamused white-haired young lady whose left eye sported a scar, while a bow-wearing raven-haired teen paid more attention to the book in her hands then the camera.

"Heh." A small tear trailed down her cheek as her fingers rested against the picture. "Hey girls..."

Her eyes drifted back up to the half-darkened moon.

"...I guess... I guess this is my life now, huh?"


	2. The Wand Chooses The Wizard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own a wand, an invisibility cloak, or a deadly mechanical scythe.

"So the gateway to the world of magic is... a pub." Harry let out a low whistle. "I was kind of expecting a better first impression, honestly."

"Be nice Harry, it's very... it's..." Ruby searched her vocabulary. "It's... homey! Yeah, it's supposed to show that wizards and witches aren't supernatural beings, just people." She turned to their companion. "That's right, isn't it?"

"Well, to be quite honest it's really just because the Leaky Cauldron was the first building on Diagon Alley."

Harry and Ruby looked around the dingy room, taking in the various folk quietly chatting with each other or drowning themselves in alcohol or, in one case, unsuccessfully trying to impress a rather pretty witch.

"...Luck _would_ explain all... this," Harry acknowledged.

Ruby sighed. "Yes, it would I suppose. Well, lead the way, miss McGonagall!"

The elderly witch pursed her lips. "That's _Professor_ McGonagall, young lady." With a slightly overdramatic twirl of her robes, she marched into the back of the building, followed closely by the others.

"Whatever. Thanks for helping us, _professor_." Ruby glanced around as they entered what for all the world appeared to be a storage room. "So, is there... a hidden door, or some sort of illusion in the wall, or something?"

Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and tapped a few bricks, which resulted in the entire wall peeling apart like a series of stacked snakes grumpily waking up from their nap.

"Huh. I've seen some interesting security doors, but this makes the top ten."

"Not the top five?"

"Eh, maybe. Anyone with a wand can open it, though, so it's not quite as impressive..."

McGonagall gave her a bemused look. "I see. Miss Rose, you are a continually surprising individual."

Ruby gave a small curtsy as she and Harry passed through the archway. "Thank you, professor. And might I say the same back to you?"

"I should hope not. A head of house must remain consistent in their duties." She shook her head. "Speaking of which, we shouldn't tarry. I have a Justin Finch-Fletchley to attend to later today."

Harry rose an eyebrow. "Why didn't he come with us then?"

"Firstly, because I have yet to deliver his Hogwarts letter-I was too busy managing your situation. Secondly..." She trailed off, glancing at his forehead for a moment. "Let's just say certain names can carry a surprising amount of weight in the Wizarding world."

The boy frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"...Perhaps I should explain later, when we're not in as public a space." The witch looked about and sighed. "And when your guardian has not wandered off to stare at broomsticks... Miss Rose!"

"What? Oh. Sorry." Ruby leaned away from the window. "Just comparing prices and stats. Some of those sound quite impressive."

"Honestly. Two weeks ago you seemed like a professional."

"Well, back in Ethiopia I was on a contract." Ruby reached out and ruffled Harry's hair. "Now I'm going shopping with my best bro here. Bonding time is fun time!"

Harry pushed off her hand with a roll of his eyes, though a small smile reached his face. "Alright, alright! I get it, you love me."

"You'd better believe it kiddo."

"And how are you two going to go shopping," McGonagall mused, "if you don't have any money?"

Ruby held up her finger. "That... is an excellent question! Come Harry, let us on to the bank! _Away!"_

She marched nobly down the alley, Harry nipping at her heels. The older witch followed, shaking her head with an amused snort. "If only I still had that sort of energy..."

* * *

"Welcome to Gringotts. What is your business today?"

"We are here to register one Ruby Rose as the legal guardian of Harry Potter, and to obtain coinage for their subsequent school purchases."

"Hmm." The short hooknosed figure behind the desk rustled through some papers. "We don't seem to have any documentation regarding a Ruby Rose..."

"As far as we can tell, her Hogwarts acceptance letter never went through-most likely due to death eater interference." McGonagall gestured toward the young woman, who waved eagerly. "This is her introduction to magic as much as Harry's, she'll be in attendance with him."

The hooknosed figure lowered his glasses for a moment. "I... see. This is most unusual."

"Story of my life," Ruby replied glibly. "So, I don't know how rude it is to ask this, but you and all the other short people here... are you all one family?"

"We are all _goblins_ , miss Rose. Not human."

"Oh! Oooooh. Okay, yeah, that makes sense."

With a sigh, the goblin shuffled a few more papers. "...Normally, we would ask for your wand as evidence of your guardianship, but I presume you haven't purchased one yet, and with no magical schooling..." He frowned, rapping his long fingers on the desk.

"...What if I came back after my first year at Hogwarts?" Ruby suggested. "I could fill out all the necessary paperwork while I was there, it'd probably not be too much on top of a curriculum meant for eleven-year-olds. No offense, Harry," she added quickly.

"None taken, I'm still ten."

"Hmm. Yes, I suppose that _would_ be acceptable..." After a moment, he steepled his hands. "Very well. We shall gather the necessary parchments and have them ready when you return from the vault. I presume you have mister Potter's key with you?"

"We do, yes." McGonagall produced a small gold object.

"Very good. Griphook will escort you."

Another goblin stepped forward and took the key from her hands. "This way, please." With an abrupt about-face, he led them to a small door, behind which was a cart resting on a metal tracks.

"Huh." Harry looked it over as Griphook sidled in. "That's an interesting way to get to a bank vault."

"Not as crazy as some of the stuff I've seen," Ruby replied, taking a seat besides McGonagall. "No restraints?"

"In case we need to dump cargo quickly."

Harry frowned at the goblin's words. "So... are _we_ cargo?"

"There are only three things on these carts: Customers, Clerks, and Cargo. At the moment, you are the first, I am the second..."

Griphook favored him with a toothy smirk. "...and you _don't_ want to become the third."

"Don't worry, Harry," Ruby said calmly. "If we're dumped I'll make sure you land safely."

With a reluctant sigh, the boy sidled into the cart. "Well, I'll be on my best behavior then."

"Oh, well we're doomed."

McGonagall frowned at Ruby. "Surely he's not so ill-mannered?"

"We spent three years at the same orphanage. The stories I could tell-"

"I was an infant!" Harry protested as the cart started forward.

"You were a little bundle of terror! Let me tell you about his first word-see, since I was a teen, the matron had shanghaied me into helping feed all the kiddos..."

* * *

"...so after we got the crib off the ceiling fan and chased out the last of the dogs, the matron went to change her shirt, and I turned to Harry and went 'What do you have to say for yourself young man?' I mean I wasn't actually expecting him to reply, he was a baby after all, but he gives me this big mischievous grin, opens his mouth-and he doesn't say 'mama' or 'no' or even 'Ruby' like you'd expect. No, he looks me straight in the eye and says... _'nostrils.'_ Except he didn't have all his teeth yet so it came out more like 'nothtrilth.' And I'm like 'Nostrils?! That's what you're going with? Where did you even _get_ that?!'"

Harry buried his face in his hands with a groan. Professor McGonagall was trying, and half succeeding, to hold back a tittering laugh behind her fist. Even Griphook had a wide, fanged grin as he led the three back to the front desk.

"Yeah... that was about the time I realized I'd be taking Harry with me when I finally left the orphanage." Ruby ruffled the young man's black hair as she accepted the parchments from the goblin behind the desk. "Gotta say, I'm happy I found him on that porch. I mean I'm not happy he was there-who in their right mind leaves a baby on a doorstep in the middle of the night?"

McGonagall coughed into her fist, glancing at the boxy red object hidden beneath the redhead's cloak. "I'm sure I have no idea."

"You know, if you get to tell her the first word story," Harry deadpanned, "I think it's only fair I tell her about that thing that happened in Brazil."

Ruby frowned. "That's serious escalation, Harry. Baby stories are traditionally embarrassing, you have to go for something traditionally embarrassing in return. Skipping up to Brazil just convinces me to bring up New York."

"How about that time in India?"

"Mmm, closer. I suppose that acceptable."

"As much as I would love to hear about these events," Griphook interjected, "I'm afraid I have to return to work. Thank you for doing business with Gringotts."

"And thank _you_ for being so helpful with us," Ruby replied with a small nod, turning her attention to the parchments in her hands. "Well... hmm. That might be a problem."

McGonagall blinked. "What?"

"Oh... nothing I can't handle, just... troublesome details." She rolled the parchment shut as they left the bank. "Aren't we supposed to be getting wands now?"

The professor frowned for a moment, but let it pass. "Yes. Wands." She led them a short distance down the street, gesturing toward an austere little building. "The best place to buy wands is, of course, Ollivanders. They've been in the business since... well, before the roman empire collapsed."

"Well I suppose they must be doing _something_ right then," Harry mused as they entered. "Whether it's wandmaking or just buying out the competition, that's up in the air."

Before either of the women with him could reprimand his words, a wizened man looked up from behind the counter. "Ah... mister Potter. Yes, I have been expecting you."

Harry rose an eyebrow as the man approached him with a tape measure. "Did professor McGonagall call ahead?"

"Hmm? Ah, muggle term." The elderly man measured his height quickly, before taking an arm. "No. But this is the year you are going to Hogwarts. You _are_ going to Hogwarts, yes?"

"Yes, I... hold on, how did you-?"

"Customer service means anticipating customers." The man turned away from him, almost heading for the racks of wands, before suddenly pausing and peering at Ruby. "...although I am sometimes surprised. Who are you?"

"Ollivander, this is Ruby Rose," McGonagall explained. "Due to Death Eater intervention, she never received her Hogwarts letter, so she'll be attending with Harry."

"...And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"I caught her performing silent magic in full sight of muggles. When I talked to her, she had no idea the magical world existed."

"I'm standing right here," Ruby pointed out.

"...So you are," Ollivander acknowledged, pulling out his measuring tape again. "Hmmm. Birthday."

"What?"

"Birthday," he repeated, finishing her height and taking her arm. "It helps with the wand-matching."

"Oh." She tilted her head for a moment. "...October thirty-first, 1965."

"Interesting. Interesting." The man snapped his measuring tape shut. "You first, I should think. Longer time without channeling, more dangerous buildup." He started rustling through the boxes behind the shelves, pulling out a few and placing them on the counter.

Ruby ran her fingers over the labels. "Hmm. Redwood? I do like red."

"I wouldn't suggest that-"

"Oh, it's just a wand." Ruby had already taken the wand over the box, and was swishing it through the air. "What could possibly-?"

With a loud bang she was flung into a bookshelf, great tomes piling over her in a loud avalanche.

Ollivander glanced at the box. "Dragon heartstring, twelve inches... Rigid, if I recall correctly. Definitely not."

"Oh dear," McGonagall murmured, rushing over. "Miss Rose, are you-?"

"I'm okay!" Ruby laughed, even as she pushed herself out of the pile. "Ha, wooo. See, Harry? This. This is why, you listen to the experts."

"Says the woman who snapped up something she was warned against," Harry deadpanned.

She stood, a few books falling off her shoulder. "I like to teach by example."

"Like back in India?"

"Yep!" Very carefully she walked back to the counter, holding the wand at arm's length until it was safely nestled in the box again. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it!"

"Hmm." The man handed her another wand. "Blackthorn, Pheonix feather. Wave."

"...I'm not going to get flung against another bookshelf, am I?"

Ollivander stared at her, impassive.

"Ooooookay." With a breath, Ruby waved the wand-

-and blinked as he snatched it out of her hand. "No, what was I thinking, more than what you show... Vine, unicorn hair."

"Uh..." Ruby waved it. "Well, I-"

"Closer, not right, not right..." Tapping his fingers on the desk, the man frowned to himself. "Hmmm. Strong reaction to redwood, no blackthorn even with... but the vine... Hmm. Don't have that, but... Yes, yes. Here. Rowan, unicorn hair."

Ruby took the proffered stick warily. When her hand wrapped around it, though, a slight glow seemed to come from her skin, the scent of roses permeating the room.

The moment was brief, but it seemed to satisfy him. "Yes. That would do it. Fourteen inches, fairly bendy... that wand will serve you well, if you keep your mind clear of cobwebs."

"Yeah. Okay." Ruby nodded, examining the carved wood in her hands. "Huh. Even has a rose engraved in it. That's... nice."

"The wand chooses the wizard. Or witch." Ollivander nodded at Harry. "Now you, young man. Here. Fir, unicorn core."

Harry frowned, waving the stick. "Okay, so-"

"Hmm. Interesting. Not right, but interesting."

Harry frowned as the wand was plucked out of his hand. "Is this normal?"

"Oh, yes. Larch, dragon string. Sometimes I go through dozens of wands before finding a right match."

The young man flinched as boxes fell off the shelves. "That's got to be a little bit irritating."

"Only a little. Perfection can't be rushed. Although..." The man took the wand, examining it. "Curious. I wonder... I shall return shortly." He rushed into the back room, leaving his customers standing in the lobby.

After a moment, Harry cleared his throat. "So... how long has he been running this store?"

"Oh, he was here when I got my wand," McGonagall replied breezily. "I think he'd taken over a few years before then."

Ruby blinked. "...You know, he reminds me of this one guy I used to buy ammo from. Much more talkative, of course."

Ollivander returned, carefully carrying an old-looking box which he placed on the counter. "Here. Holly, pheonix feather. I might be wrong, but..."

Harry frowned as he trailed off, reaching out for the stick. As he picked it up, the room seemed to grow warmer, everything just a little bit brighter. The moment was swift, but impactful.

"...wow."

"Yeah, I know, right?" Ruby grinned.

"I mean, just... wow."

"Hmm. Curious." Ollivander mused. "Very curious indeed."

Harry looked up from his wand. "What, this isn't right?"

"No, the wand did choose you, have no doubt of that. It's just... I remember every wand I ever made. The pheonix whose feather is in that wand only ever donated two. It is strange that this wand should choose you..."

He pointed at Harry's forehead. "...when its twin was the one that gave you that scar."

For a moment, dead silence filled the room.

Then, very calmly, Ruby uttered a single word.

_"What."_


	3. A Semblance of Fame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I cannot talk to snakes, move at high speeds, or transform the moon into a giant mecha.

"Okay, this is great ice cream," Ruby admitted, scooping up another large chunk of frozen sweetness. "It's some of the most excellent ice cream I've tasted. Magically delicious, if you'll pardon the pun. It's almost good enough to make me forget the fact my _adopted son_ was apparently cut up with a wand."

She pointed her spoon at the witch across from her. _"Almost."_

McGonagall sighed. "I suppose you were going to put the pieces together anyway... You recall the Death Eaters I mentioned before?"

"The gang of racist fearmongers that had a stranglehold on magical Britain and went on regular murder sprees? Wait, let me guess: Harry was attacked by one of them."

"By their... leader, actually." McGonagall looked down at her teacup, face falling. "His parents were quite well known enemies of the Dark Lord, to the point where he decided to eliminate them personally. It's presumed he tried to kill Harry too, but... well, after he went to the Potter home, he didn't come out."

Ruby glanced across the shop to where Harry was eating some of his own frozen goodness. "Huh. So his mom and dad died protecting him and managed to take a major baddie with them." She nodded. "I can respect that. Lilly and James, right?"

"Yes."

"I hope they don't mind me stepping in."

"...I'm sure they'd be perfectly alright with it."

Ruby turned back to her ice cream, stabbing her spoon back in. Then she looked up with a frown. "Hold on. How did Ollivander know that Harry got that scar from this Dark Lord guy?"

"Ah. Well, as you might expect, the Death Eaters essentially fell apart after their leader died. The era of his reign was ended, there was much celebration, and some facts became... well known." McGonagall tapped her teacup quietly. "Such as the fact that Harry Potter had survived a situation no other known wizard had. Your adopted son is... something of an icon these days. A figure that the light rallies about."

"Wait. So, if I'm understanding this correctly: The big bad evil man attacked a baby, died because of the baby's parents, and now the _baby_ is a national hero. Despite being, you know, a _baby."_

After a moment, the witch nodded curtly.

"...Okay. I mean, I've heard weirder fame stories, so sure. I'll buy it."

"Well," McGonagall mused, "there's also the fact... I don't know if I should tell you this, actually, given that you're only just starting your magical training and, ah, have a tendency to get into dangerous situations."

"What? That's he's part of a rich old family? The vault showed me that. That he's some sort of legendary chick magnet? I mean, I didn't think I'd need to give him the talk until he was fifteen-"

"It's more... Miss Rose, if I tell you this, can you promise me you won't go seeking any further information about the spell I mention?"

Ruby frowned. "Is it some sort of super-dark evil death magic or something?"

"...essentially, yes."

"Oh." Ruby nommed on her ice cream. "...Alright. I promise."

"...The Dark Lord had a habit of using what we call the Unforgivable curses. The one he used most frequently, however, was the Killing Curse. Quite simply put, there is no known defense against it; if it hits you, you are dead." McGonagall let her eyes drift to the boy clutching his head with a wince. "...There is only one known case where it has failed."

Ruby followed her gaze. "...Ooooooookay. Knowing that, it kind of puts the whole thing in perspective." She paused. "Are you absolutely sure that Harry was hit, though?"

"There can be no doubt."

"Huh." Ruby licked her spoon thoughtfully. "...So, on a scale of one to ten, one being random peasant and ten being God himself, exactly how famous and worshiped is my boy?"

"...On that scale? I'd say, hmmm... about an eight."

Ruby put her spoon down. "I see."

She stood up, took a breath, and let it out slowly.

"...Harry?"

"Yeah sis?"

"Look, there's this talk I've been meaning to have with you, and I was going to wait until you were fifteen, but..."

* * *

"...so to recap: love takes time, work, and constant communication on the part of both parties. If you feel like it's too much work for too little reward, stop and think about why you love her-or him, I don't judge-and vice versa. That goes double if you enter a polygamous relationship. You got that, right?"

"...uh." Harry blinked. "...Yeah. Yeah, uh... Yeah."

"Well, if you ever have any questions, you know your big sis is always there for you." Ruby gave him a nervous smile. "So! That was awkward. Oh look, a pet store!"

Harry glanced to his left. "Eeylops Owl Emporium?"

"Actually, wizards use owls to carry postage," McGonagall informed them.

"See? Even better! A _useful_ pet!" Ruby grinned broadly. "You want to distract yourself from the weird thoughts by looking for a bird?"

"...That's actually not a terrible idea."

McGonagall watched him walk into the store, dazed. She cleared her throat. "You know, when you started that talk, I thought you'd go into more details about the... ahem, mechanics."

"Too many people think about the how, and not enough people think about the why. Right now, it's the why that I'm more worried about; people have been blundering through the how since before history started. If he still hasn't figured that out before he turns fifteen, I'll break out the sock puppets."

"...Sock puppets?"

A brief smile flitted across Ruby's face. "Old family tradition."

"Ah. Forgive me for prying, but... what _did_ happen to your family?"

The redhead's eyes grew distant. "...You know, that's the worst part. I have no idea. We got separated in a terrorist attack and... I lost all track of them. I don't even know if they're still alive..."

"Oh. I... I see." McGonagall sighed. "I apologize if I brought up any... painful memories-"

"It's alright. I've grown to live with it." She smiled faintly. "Besides, they're mostly good memories..."

The sound of a shop bell drew their attention to Harry, who hoisted a cage up as he walked over to them. "Can you believe they had a snowy owl in there? I didn't think they lived this far south!"

"Wow. That's incredible!" Ruby quickly checked the tag attached to the cage. "She's quite a beauty. What's her name?"

Harry glanced at the ground for a moment. "Actually, I... I was kind of thinking of calling her Weiss."

Ruby froze.

"I mean, if that's okay. If it isn't, I completely-"

"No, it's fine. Weiss, huh?"

The redhead reached through the bars; the owl bit her finger, glaring at her suspiciously, before letting her gently pet her feathers.

"...Heh. Yeah. It fits." Ruby smirked, pulling back her hand. "It fits."

* * *

The rest of the Diagon Alley shopping trip went fairly smoothly, save for an incident that nearly had Ruby banned from Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions for life. Fortunately enough, McGonagall and Harry were able to calm the two down and get them to agree to disagree on what, exactly, constituted a combat skirt. As soon as they left the Leaky Cauldron, the elder witch had politely bid them a good day and separated in order to fulfill her other duties.

Harry and Ruby spent time over the next few days organizing their new wizarding trunks and doing a once-over of their various textbooks. Vernon Dursley had been rather put out when he found them pouring over _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection: by Quentin Trimble_ together, but as Ruby had pointed out reading in and of itself wasn't magic-she'd even shown him the page she had been looking at, or rather a page she had selected that didn't have any moving pictures or diagrams, just to prove they were ordinary books. Weiss was allowed to fly about outside and, if nobody was looking, Harry would let her into his and Ruby's shared bedroom. Ruby had tried to convince their hosts to let the bird fly about indoors but, well, the argument of 'well trained pet' simply didn't pass muster.

A brief but welcome interruption in the tension came on Dudley's birthday-Ruby and Harry had spent the day before shopping, and revealed their gifts in the morning (after assuring Petunia that "Yes, the presents weren't magical in any way, look here's the receipt even, no that's not a magical word it's Danish, I'm pretty sure that's Japanese, look you can go look on the shelves and see more for yourself if you want!"). Harry's donation of some sort of building brick set raised eyebrows, but was blown out of the water by Ruby's gift-a popular game system that Dudley had seen at a friend's house. There was some grumbling from Petunia and Vernon-they themselves had set out to get a number of expensive dinosaur toys and a robot with many lights and whistles-but Dudley didn't notice their aggravated frowns.

And of course, when Vernon announced a surprise trip to the zoo, the young boy had asked if Ruby and cousin Harry could come along. Petunia pointed out that they hadn't planned for extra guests, but Ruby had laughed that off and agreed to pay for their own fee. With no real reason to deny them, the Dursleys had reluctantly-or eagerly, in Dudley's case-allowed them to ride along in their car; the two had entertained Dudley with stories of their trips around the globe, much to the continued frustration of his parents. It was only after they were past the zoo's front gates that they managed to regain some control of the situation, leading their son from exhibit to exhibit with forced eagerness as they tried to outrace some of Ruby's tales of her encounters with various species.

"You know," Harry mused as they rushed away from the tiger pit, "I'm beginning to think they don't _want_ us here."

Ruby huffed. "Don't be ridiculous. They're just flustered because they didn't plan on us-we only started living with them a week ago."

The young boy quirked an eyebrow at her, but decided to hold his peace as they followed the Dursleys into the herpetarium. Lizards and frogs lounged in their glass cages, helpful labels underneath each window identifying the ones hiding in the foliage. There were snakes off to one side, mostly resting as people passed them by. Harry, curious, wandered over to look at a few, leaning over the railing to peer at one in particular. "This guy seems kind of depressed."

"You think?" Ruby walked over, looking at the snake. "Yeah... that is one out-of-it boa."

The snake let its tongue in and out. Harry blinked, adjusting his glasses.

"Is it just me, or did he just... sigh?"

Ruby looked between the two. "I didn't hear anything."

"Weird." Harry shrugged. "I could have sworn..."

The redhead gave him a half-joking grin. "Do we need to get your ears checked?"

"Ha ha. Well, whatever." Harry gave a half wave. "Bye snake."

The snake raised its head half an inch and let out a quiet hiss.

Harry stared. "...Okay, maybe I _do_ need my ears checked."

He leaned over the rail carefully and, much to Ruby's confusion, started hissing. She was even more confused when the snake seemed to perk up and hiss right back. After a few moments of the back and forth, she hesitantly cleared her throat.

The young boy turned to look at her, confused. "What?"

"Harry... why are you hissing at that snake?"

"Hissing? I wasn't hissing. We were talking to each other."

Ruby frowned. "Well, okay, but I heard hissing. Did... you not know you were hissing?"

Harry blinked. "Uh... no. It sounded like words to me."

For a moment the two stared at each other.

Then Ruby beamed. "I know what this is."

"What?"

"You've discovered your semblance!" She wrapped the boy up in a tight hug. "Oh I am so proud of you, Harry! I mean talking to snakes is kind of a weird semblance but I've heard of weirder and there's nothing wrong with it. Well, so long as you don't try to abuse the snakes. They're living animals too, you know."

"Sis... can't... breathe!"

Ruby took in the blue hue of his skin and blinked. "Oh! Whoops!" She released him with an embarrassed chuckle, brushing off his shoulders. "Well, sorry about that. As soon as we get the chance, we're going to set you up a practice schedule so you can master your semblance. Oh, I'm going to need to go to a pet store and get you-no, Weiss would be jealous, I think..."

"Yeah... sure." Harry cleared his throat. "But right now, I think we need to get a move on."

"What? Why?"

"The Dursleys are headed for the apes exhibit."

Ruby turned around, spotting the birthday boy being herded out by his parents. "Oh. Right! Uh, don't mention the snake thing to them, Harry, I don't want to overshadow your cousin's birthday."

"Alright, sure." Turning around, Harry gave a final parting hiss to the boa, who waved his tail back, before joining his adoptive sister in rushing after his biological family.


	4. To the Hogwarts Express

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never ridden the Hogwarts Express or the Beacon Airline Services.

The two-and-a-quarter months between Dudley's birthday and the start of Harry's Hogwarts term were filled with memorable experiences for the Dursley family. True, nothing blatantly magical happened-Ruby had made it clear that she and Harry were to study all their books and memorize the safety rules before they even _attempted_ to use their magical finanglings, on top of her promise not to use magic in the house-but even without that, two practical strangers living in the upstairs bedroom provided a near-daily source of weirdness for Vernon to object to, for Petunia to worry about, and for Dudley to remember so he could tell his new schoolmates about his awesome summer. It didn't help that Ruby took to running through acrobatic drills with her strange weapon in their backyard; it _certainly_ didn't help when Dudley asked if she could teach him how to do those crazy flips and, before Petunia had time to react, was going through a few basic stretches with Harry.

"It's abnormal and strange!" she insisted.

"It's an ordinary workout routine," Ruby assured her. "I'm not going to teach him anything intense until he's fifteen at _least._ "

Petunia would have insisted the group sessions cease, but a look at Dudley's exhausted, goofy grin left her only with an annoyed huff.

And then there was Weiss. The owl understood that being _inside_ the house was against the rules; that didn't mean she didn't make trouble _outside_ of it. Barking at passing cats, divebombing the occasional dog, Weiss seemed to need to prove herself the master of her domain. It certainly didn't help that she rarely got sent out on mail runs, due to Vernon's reluctance to have any connection with the wizarding world-all her energy was spent either hunting, playing with Harry, or establishing herself as the snowy terror goddess of Privet Drive.

The Dursleys had taken to telling their neighbors that Ruby and Harry were former members of a circus. This didn't quite have the effect they intended; instead of deflecting attention, the children of the drive would gather on their lawn to listen to the pair's stories (usually watered down and sanitized for their hearing, but even that was enough to enrapture their little ears). When one of the visiting mothers had asked why Ruby and Harry were living with them, Harry had answered truthfully-he was Petunia's long lost blood nephew, only discovering their relation recently. Which of course left the poor woman flustered as all the parents expressed both sympathy at her separation and delight at the family reunion.

Stories of what happened at Harry's birthday party would be told for the next three generations.

So it was that, when the first of September rolled around, the Dursley family had very mixed reactions to Ruby and Harry loading up their lorry. Vernon was very glad to be rid of the two lunatics, and Petunia helped them carry their things out with a mix of relief and an odd tugging in her chest. Dudley, on the other hand, was inconsolable... right up until Ruby gathered him up in a tight hug and promised, promised, they'd be back for his birthday and she'd see if they could swing a visit at Christmas and would he keep up his stretches at least once a week and be good for his parents? Harry had to remind her to let him breathe, but even as his cousin gasped he patted his shoulder, saying that they'd both miss him over the school year, but promising to keep in touch.

(Vernon had grumbled something under his breath about dirty birds. Weiss had promptly flown into the backyard and returned to drop a live mouse on his head. Harry had quickly secured her after that.)

It was a fairly short drive from the house back to the rental garage, and a half-hour walk from there to King's Cross station with all their luggage. It wasn't until they arrived that they had their first real issue.

"Platform nine and three fourths." Ruby looked from her slip of paper, between platforms nine and ten, then shared a glance with Harry. "Okay, so I can understand it being hidden, but... three fourths of what, exactly?"

"Maybe we're supposed to just run at the wall?" Harry suggested.

"I guess that's _possible_ ," Ruby allowed, "but... you remember Diagon Alley, the brick thing. I think there'd be something like that, except it would scan for wands instead of needing to be poked by a wand."

"...You know, there's always the option of just asking around."

"True. But who would we ask?"

Harry tapped his chin. "Not the guards, I think, they're normals. I'd assume that other Hogwarts students would be passing by, they might have obvious luggage stuff..."

"Huh. Good point."

They stood, staring at the platforms for a couple of minutes.

"...soooooo." Ruby coughed. "Uh... hmmm."

"Yeah?"

"I... you know. Just..."

Harry rolled his eyes. "So about that sports team."

"Oh yeah! That sports team! The football one!"

"American or British football?"

"You know, I never got that. I mean, why do the Americans call it soccer when it came first?"

"I dunno, yanks are crazy."

"Heh. But fun."

"Yeah. You know, I think it's their gun obsession."

Ruby frowned. "You have something against guns?"

"Oh, no, not at all-Crescent Rose is gorgeous. The yanks, though, they go for quantity over quality. Actually, that's a general thing-they see something cool, and replicate it ad infinitum, even though the replicas are kind of shoddy."

"...Yeah, that is pretty accurate."

"Mmmhmm."

"...more muggles here every year, I swear!"

Ruby and Harry both turned at the new voice, identifying it as coming from a pack of gingers and their trolleys. The exasperated matriarch held a hand of a young girl looking about in awe, and had apparently all but given up on directing any of the four boys in unstable orbit around her. They slowed as they approached, eyeing the pair curiously; eventually, the trolleys all ground to a halt, the two groups simply staring at each other, as the clock ticked its way to eleven o'clock.

The matriarch put on a polite smile. "Ah... hello then."

Ruby smiled back, with an awkward wave. "Hi!"

"Are you... waiting for a train?" the woman asked politely, her fingers twitching toward her purse.

"Actually we're a little lost," Harry explained. "We're looking for platform nine and three fourths."

Most of the gingers relaxed at that, although the woman still kept her wary eyes on Ruby. "Well, I'm sure your mother knows the way, right dear?"

"Funny story, actually. Professor McGonagall thinks the death eaters actually destroyed my Hogwarts letter, back when I was supposed to get it." Ruby put a warm hand on Harry's shoulder. "So I'll actually be attending with my _best bro_ here."

"And probably bothering me to brush my teeth constantly," Harry added.

"Well, you know, it's a parent's prerogative to properly pester their progeny."

"Hold on," said one of the gingers, "I'm confused."

"You called him your best bro," said another that looked exactly like the first.

"But now you're saying-"

"-that you're his parent."

"And we may be young-"

"-and ill educated in the ways of love-"

"-but as you can plainly see-"

"-we have many siblings-"

"-and so we've got some idea-"

"-of how they came about-"

"-so how can you be-"

"-his sister _and_ his mum?"

"Well, _legally_ I'm his adoptive mother, but the age difference between us is a little under fifteen so... bro-sis is more comfortable, usually." Ruby made a face. "And I do _not_ want to think about the other possibility, thank you."

The woman let her hand drop. "I'm sorry about Fred and George. They can be quite rude at times." She held out a hand. "I'm Molly Weasley."

"Ruby Rose." Taking the hand, she gave it a firm shake before tilting her head toward her ward. "And this is Harry."

"Harry?" squeaked the young girl clutching Molly's other hand. "Harry... Potter?"

Harry blinked as all eyes were suddenly focused on him. "...Um. Well, that's my name." His eyes shifted between their astonished gazes. "So... I... take it you've heard of me?"

Fred scoffed. Or possibly George. "Have we heard of you, he says."

"Have we heard of the boy-who-lived," added George. Or maybe Fred.

"How he defeated You-Know-Who?"

"How he brought an end to the war?"

"The star of literally dozens of children's stories?"

"The apple of little witches' eyes across the country?"

"No, I can't say we have."

"Pleased to meet you!"

They stuck out their hands, one left and one right. Harry quirked an eyebrow, but took them both with a firm shake. "Well, you're in good company. _I_ hadn't heard of me until two months ago."

"People used to talk about _me_ instead," Ruby added with a mock sigh. "Oh, how the times change!"

Molly blinked. "Are you some sort of celebrity, miss Rose? I'll admit I don't pay much attention to muggle entertainment-"

"No, I'm just really good at my job, which leads to people from all kingdoms asking for my help..." She shrugged.

"And what is it that you do, exactly?"

Ruby opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the eldest boy cleared his throat and tapped his watch meaningfully.

"What-oh for heaven's sake!" Molly shook her head. "Go on then, Percy!"

"Thank you, mother." With a formal nod, the boy rushed for the wall between platforms nine and ten, passing through it as easily as mist.

Harry nudged Ruby. "Told you."

"Oh, were you confused about that?" Molly gave him a small smile. "I suppose that you wouldn't have heard of the barrier... It's quite easy, you know. You just go right for it."

"Of course, if you go too fast you end up on another world," Fred mentioned.

"And if you go too slow, your ghost will haunt some poor firstie," George added.

"Boys! Stop teasing and get going!"

With mischievous grins, the twins rushed into the wall and vanished.

"Honestly, those two..." Molly shook her head. "Don't let them get to you, young man."

"I can tell when somebody's winding me up." Harry jerked a thumb at Ruby. "I live with _her,_ after all."

"I'm not that bad!"

"Oh, no. Sure you're not." He caught the eye of the final remaining boy and mouthed _She's Worse,_ which earned him a small disbelieving snicker.

"I saw that!"

"Saw what?" Harry asked innocently.

Ruby huffed. "You see what I have to deal with?" she jokingly asked.

Molly grinned. "Count yourself lucky, I have _seven_."

"Does Percy count?" the boy asked.

"No, but your father does."

"Oh. Right, that makes sense."

Ruby glanced at the solid-looking wall three teenagers had just passed through. "So... just go for it?"

"Yes dear." Molly frowned for a moment. "I understand you're nervous and all, what with attending Hogwarts later in life, but... Well, it's Ronald's first year too." She patted the boy's head. "And if he can make it, I'm sure you'll have no trouble."

"Right." Ruby took a breath. "Well, I've done crazier things. Harry, race?"

"Hahaha _no_. I never win a race against you."

"But this time I have a trolley!"

"And so do I!"

"Aw come on!"

"Okay, fine, I guess I'll _is that a dragon?"_

Ruby only followed Harry's pointing finger for half a second, but it was half a second headstart. With a smirk and a roll of her eyes, she kicked her heels after the boy, catching up just in time to vanish with him into the wall.

"...Blimey," mused the remaining male ginger. "So that's Harry Potter."

Molly snorted. "Don't pester the poor boy, Ron. And hurry up, the train's going to leave soon!"

Ruby and Harry garnered a number of looks as they rushed across Platform Nine and Three Fourths and ran toward the train, Ruby handing off their luggage to Harry as he got aboard before taking both the trolleys off to the rental office. It only took her a second to zip there and back, rose petals scattering in her wake even as she leapt aboard and took her own trunks back.

"Show-off," Harry muttered with a grin.

"Well, it's either me or you," Ruby pointed out. "Unless everybody going to Hogwarts this year is secretly a magical celebrity, in which case I have to blow away the competition by starting early!"

"...fair point." With a shrug, Harry walked down the corridor and tilted his head at one of the compartments. "This one looks empty."

"You take the rear bench, I'll take the forward."

The two of them shuffled into the small room, shoving their various bags underneath the benches. Harry took Weiss's cage and put it carefully beside him, scratching under her beak.

"She's really taken a liking to you, hasn't she?"

"Well you know," Harry mused, "when she's not trying to be master of all she surveys she's actually pretty sweet."

At that point, Ronald Weasley stuck his head in. "You lot mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full, see..."

Ruby gave him an amused smirk. "Everywhere?"

"Yep."

She leaned forward, peering across the hall at another empty compartment. "Really?"

"...Yes." The ginger nodded firmly. "Absolutely packed. It's barmy, they really should add another car."

"Oh, well, if that's the case-skooch over, Harry, let Ronald have a seat."

Harry rolled his eyes, but complied.

"I actually like to be called Ron," the boy explained as he shuttled in, quickly stashing his bags. "My mum only calls me Ronald when she's really mad. Thanks for letting me sit here, by the way."

"Not a problem. Us redheads have to stick together."

Ron peered at Ruby's head. "Uh... are you actually a ginger? I mean, it looks a little dark-"

Ruby rolled her eyes and quickly shook her head, her hair blood-red as it caught the light.

"Cor..." Ron leaned back. "Are you a metamorphamagus?"

"I don't know what that is," Ruby replied. "All I know is that I have awesome hair."

Ron nodded. "Right, you're... new. I forgot." After a moment, he turned to the other boy. "So... you're Harry Potter!"

"And you're Ronald Weasley. What's your point?"

"Do... do you have the scar?" Ron gestured. "You know, on your head?"

Harry gave Ruby a disbelieving look, which only earned him a small giggle. With a sigh, he turned back to Ron and lifted his bangs. "Well, it was there this morning, so..."

"Blimey." Ron stared for a few seconds. "That's incredible, mate, it is."

Harry's reply was cut off as the train jerked into motion, forcing him to keep his owl's cage from falling. "Whoa, easy there girl!"

"That's a nice looking owl."

"Yeah, I got Weiss a couple months ago."

"Wish I had an owl," the other boy muttered. "Mum couldn't afford it. All I've got is Scabbers." He produced a rat from his pocket.. "Not even that great, he's a hand-me down from Percy."

"Well, that just makes him a valuable family tradition," Ruby interjected, reaching under her seat and pulling out a long, thin case. "And family traditions are important. For instance, my uncle helped me design Crescent Rose here."

Ron gave her a confused look as she snapped the case open. "Crescent Rose? What's-?" He cut himself off with a gasp as Ruby pulled out something large and boxy, watching it unfold in her hands. "Is... is that a _scythe?!_ "

Ruby grinned at him. "It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"...that's some kind of gun, innat? My dad works for the Muggle artifacts office, and I've heard him call guns rifles... I think."

"Yes, it is in fact a kind of gun." With great delicacy, Ruby pulled some tools from the case and started fiddling with her weapon. "A little bit high-maintenance, but that's worth it for the versatility."

"Sis," Harry said plaintively, "do you think it's really a good idea to work on Crescent Rose while you're in a moving train?"

Ruby looked down at her scythle, out the window at the slowly accelerating landscape, and up at Harry. "Huh. You know, I totally forget this was a civilian transport."

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief as she folded up her gun and put it back in the case. "That's why I'm here, to keep you grounded."

A bushy-haired girl stuck her head through the door. "Excuse me, have you seen a toad? Neville's lost his, you see."

"Sorry," Ruby apologized. "No toads here."

The girl gave her an odd look. "...I didn't think teachers rode on the Hogwarts Express."

"Then it's a good thing I'm a student."

"Oh." Her eyes darted about for a moment. "Well... I'm Hermione Granger." The girl stuck out her hand.

"Ruby Rose," replied the redhead, shaking the hand firmly. "And these are Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

"Harry Potter? Really?" Hermione looked at the raven-haired boy wide eyed. "You're in books, you know!"

"Really?" Harry put on an expression of amazement. "Wow! I should read some of those sometime!"

"...yes. You probably should." The bushy haired girl cleared her throat. "What house do you think you'll be in?"

"Dunno. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there."

"My family's been all Gryffindor," Ron offered.

"I wouldn't mind being in Gryffindor. It was Dumbledore's house, you know." She peered at Ron. "You have a little dirt on your nose. Right here. Well, best of luck, I should get back to finding Neville's toad!" She pulled her head out and rushed down the corridor.

"You hanv a linnle dit on yen nose," Ron mimicked, grumpily crossing his arms. "Can you believe her?"

"Well, I can see some dirt," Ruby pointed out. "Honestly the only reason I'm not wiping it off myself is because I don't want to be known as the mom-student."

"It's inevitable," Harry opined. "You'll either be the nice-mom or the hot-mom in your house."

"What? How dare you!"

"You're too nice, that's your problem."

Their conversation was interrupted by a blonde boy blustering into their compartment, flanked by two young lads built like houses. "Is it _true?_ I heard Harry _Pot_ ter was in here!"

Ron grimaced at the blonde's arrival, and Harry gave out an exasperated sigh. Ruby took in their reactions and made a snap decision.

"Really?" She looked around, before peering at her adoptive son. "Have _you_ met Harry Potter?"

Harry blinked, before putting on a puzzled look. "Can't say that I have..." He turned to Ron. "What about you?"

"Uh, well... we met at the station, but he rushed off after that."

Ruby sniffed. "Well, if I've ever met Harry Potter, he's certainly never introduced himself to me."

"Damn," the blonde muttered. "I could have sworn... Well, no matter. I'm Draco Malfoy." He thumbed at the two standing outside the compartment. "These are Crabbe and Goyle. If you see Potter, let us know-we have to make sure he doesn't associate with the wrong sort." With that, he spun around and exited the compartment, presumably to search the rest of the train.

Ron sagged. "Thanks for that," he mumbled gratefully. "A Malfoy... don't think I could stand him, even if he wasn't a shoo-in for Slytherin. They're dark as they come, you know."

Ruby tilted her head. "Malfoys or Slytherins?"

"Both!"

"You know, it's not a good idea to say somebody is dark or evil just because of their birth or house," Ruby pointed out. "If you're not willing to believe people can change, then people might not be willing to challenge your beliefs."

The two boys stared at her for a few moments.

"...What? It's true!"

Harry nudged Ron. "Total mom-student."

"Oh hush," Ruby pouted, "or I won't buy you candy when the trolley comes."


	5. Spirits and Sortings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never put on a talking hat or been flung into a forest full of shadow monsters.

"...which is why we're banned from Bermuda," Ruby finished. "Well, Hamilton, anyway. Saint George's is still open to us."

Ron stared at her, wide-eyed. "You're having me on." He turned to Harry. "She's having me on, right?"

"Oh look!" Harry pointed out the window as the train slowed. "We're here!"

"What? Oh bloody hell..." Ron stood and reached under his bench. "Quick, we have to get changed into our robes!" He looked up at Ruby. "Uh... could you give us a second?"

"So you're perfectly fine with Harry seeing you in your skivvies, but a girl freaks you out?"

"Well, yeah. I have five older brothers."

Ruby opened her mouth, paused, and shrugged. "Fair point. Come on, Weiss, let's let the boys do boy things."

She grabbed the owl cage and slipped out, pressing herself against a wall as a horde of robed students rushed past her for the car doors. Weiss fluttered in her cage, glaring at the commotion about her with an angry squawk. A few gave her odd looks, but they flowed along with the crowd. Soon enough, the raging river had dissipated into a gentle stream, just in time for Harry and Ron to step out.

"Compartment's open," Harry announced. "Should I wait for you, or...?"

"I'll be out in a jiff. Hold Weiss, will you?" Ruby handed him the cage, quickly shutting the door behind her.

Ron gave Harry an odd look. "So... your mum's coming to school with you. Isn't that kind of uncomfortable?

"Maybe for most people, but..." Harry opened the cage, letting Weiss flutter onto his forearm. "Two words: Crescent Rose."

"Right." Ron nodded. "Makes sense."

The door burst open, revealing Ruby in her robes... and red cloak over that. "Right! Come on, boys, let's get our gear and get going!"

"Actually, we leave our things here," Ron explained. "The house elves'll take care of it."

Ruby stared at him. "The what now?"

"House elves." He looked at her-before facepalming. "Right. Little magic servants."

"...Could you two excuse me for a second?" Ruby smiled politely, shutting the door again.

Ron blinked. "Uh-"

"Crescent Rose," Harry explained.

"...Oh, right. Don't want just anybody handling that... thing."

Harry watched as he fidgeted, idly stroking Weiss. "You can go on if you like."

"Don't really see any reason to. She's going to be out any second now."

The door burst open again, a small bandoleer around Ruby's body and a large boxy object hidden under her cloak. "Okay! _Now_ we're ready! Magic! Woo!"

Ron watched as she zipped down the hall. "Is she always like this?"

"If she's not in lecture mode." Harry shrugged, tossing the cage in the compartment. "Come on, let's get going."

There was a crowd milling about on the train platform, but even among the robed students Ruby's red cloak stood out, a streak of color in a sea of black. Yet as the boys started toward her, a jovial voice echoed over the crowd, and they turned to see... a man in a ragged coat, calling for first years, with a mound of curly brown hair so large that it would have consumed him had he been anywhere near an ordinary height-and even at his unusual size, his beard threatened to roll past his chest. Seeing Ruby skip over to him, Harry shrugged and led Ron through the crowd. When they finally caught up to Ruby, they heard her talking amicably with the man.

"...and that's why this is my first year."

"Huh. Well, no shame in gettin' schooling later in life. I got expelled meself when I was younger-o' course, that means most of my study's been self taught."

"Well, experience is one of the best teachers around. Oh! Harry!" Ruby smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Rubeus, this is my adopted son-"

"Harry Potter?" The man breathed deeply, his eyes growing watery. "Bless my soul. You look just like James at yer age!"

"Really?"

Rubeus nodded. "Last I saw you, you were just a wee bundle in me arms. I was the one that carried you away after... you know."

Ruby's smile didn't disappear, but Harry did feel her fingers growing tighter on his shoulders as she shifted slightly. "Really now?"

"Yep. Borrowed Sirius's motorbike and flew you straight to Dumbledore. Great man, Dumbledore, he's the one who set you up with..." The large man frowned. "Well, he was _going_ to make sure you went to your aunt. Don't know how Ruby here got ahold of you after that."

The tight grip lessened, just a titch. "I'll make sure to talk to Dumbledore about that. I'm guessing we're both rather concerned about it."

"Sounds like a fine idea." The man cleared his throat. "Right, is that everyone? All the first-years? Good. Listen here!" He stood straight, looking over the crowd of children. "My name is Rubeus Hagrid, and I'm the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds here at Hogwarts. If yer ever lost, or you need to find something on the grounds, I'm yer man. Now, in a few moments, I'm going to take you lot down to the edge of the black lake, and there's going to be boats for you all. No more than four students to a boat, and try not to fall out-once you're all settled in, I'll be taking you to the castle docks. We'll meet deputy headmistress McGonagall once we get to the castle, and she'll explain the sorting to you lot then. Alright?"

There was a general murmur of understanding from the eleven-to-twelve year olds.

Rubeus shrugged. "After me, then!" With that, he turned and walked toward the shore of the lake, his lamp held high.

* * *

The boat ride across the lake was an awe-inspiring experience, as the castle of Hogwarts loomed ever closer. Ruby had opted to ride with Rubeus-mostly since, being an adult, she might accidentally unbalance other boats, but it also let her keep talking to the man and learning more about the magical school she and Harry were about to attend. Especially the headmaster who had, apparently, abandoned a boy on a doorstep. Rubeus seemed enamored with the man, but Ruby decided to reserve her judgement.

Harry, by contrast, was sitting in a boat with Ron and two others, trying not to draw attention to his scar. Thankfully, the aura of amazement they all felt was enough to obscure his worries.

When the two of them reunited at the docks, Ruby put a hand on his shoulder. "You nervous?"

"Not really. Curious about this house thing."

"I asked my brothers how they sorted people," Ron offered, joining them as they walked toward the castle. "They said we had to fight a troll!"

"Ooo, sounds like fun!"

Harry stared at his big sister. "...Fun."

"Well, yeah. I mean, at my old school they catapulted us into a monster-filled forest." Ruby tilted her head. "Then again, I was older then you are now. I guess a simple troll fight won't be as bad."

Ron gulped.

Harry took a breath. "Okay, I wasn't nervous before, but _now_ -"

"Oh relax," Ruby assured him as they entered the castle. "It'll be fine. It's not like anybody's died here."

"Hello there," said the translucent figure phasing through the wall. "New students then?"

Harry stared at him for a moment or two, before giving Ruby a hard look.

"Okay... so they have ghosts." Ruby shrugged. "All of them are probably from before this castle was a school!"

The ghost tapped his chin. "Well, young miss Myrtle passed on about fifty years ago-"

"You are _not_ helping."

"I say we raid the library and run at the first opportunity," Harry suggested. "We can learn magic on our own in less dangerous situations."

Ron shook his head. "My mum would kill me if I did that!"

"...you've got a point. New plan, be on our guard constantly and protect the other students."

Ruby snorted. "That's what I was planning anyway."

"Oh good." Harry relaxed. "That actually makes me feel much better."

The crowd of milling children stopped when Rubeus stepped up next to a stern-looking McGonagall. "The firs' years, profess'r."

"Thank you Hagrid." The witch turned to the crowd. "In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall, where the sorting ceremony shall commence. When your name is called, you will step up to the head table; before then, I expect you all to behave responsibly."

"Ickle firsties, not fidgeting?"

McGonagall rolled her eyes at the new voice. "Peeves, don't make trouble."

An eye-watering clash of colors masquerading as an outfit hovered above the crowd, the strange figure wearing them giggling like a maniac. "Don't make trouble? Mickey Gone, I'm just here to say hello!" He tilted in midair, the black orbs in his eye sockets scanning the crowd. "After all, ickle firsties need to have fun! That's what I'm here... for..."

He froze, staring at Ruby with shock for a moment or two.

"...and I'm sure they'll have plenty of fun here at Hoggywarts! Now I should go check on Myrtle, make sure she's not holed up in her stall." With a pop, he vanished.

McGonagall quirked an eyebrow, giving Ruby a contemplative look. "Hmmm."

The redhead caught her gaze and shrugged helplessly.

"...Well then!" The witch slapped her wand into her hand. "As I was saying. Once you are sorted, you will be directed to your house table. While you can certainly talk among yourselves, I want you to give the students before and after you on the list as much respect as possible." She strode toward a pair of massive doors. "Prepare yourselves, children; your magical career begins now."

With a wave of her wand, McGonagall led them into the great hall. The new students gaped and gasped as they flowed into the massive chamber, eyes roving up the tall walls and past the hovering collection of candles to the impossible skyscape atop the room. McGonagall strode past four long tables where other young wizards already sat on their benches, up a set of stairs to a fifth table hosting what Ruby presumed to be the staff and teachers, and stood beside a stool with an oddly ratty-looking hat atop it.

For a moment, nothing happened. McGonagall rolled her eyes and nudged the stool with her foot.

"Hmm? Yes, what-ah." The hat's folds seemed to form a face, a ragged seam opening on the front like a pair of lips. "Here we go then, Ahem ahem ahem...

_Oooooooooh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_if you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folks use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

Scattered applause followed the hat's brief ditty, and it seemed to nod or bow to the various tables.

"...A talking hat." Ruby shook her head. "A talking hat. That sings."

Harry gave her a look. "You can handle ghosts, but the singing hat gets to you?"

"Well, I mean, I was prepared for strange creatures you know? The hat's just... out of nowhere."

McGonagall cleared her throat, rolling open a scroll. "Abbot, Hannah!"

One of the students jumped, and quickly rushed forward. The witch picked up the hat, gesturing toward the stool; the girl obediently sat down and allowed her to place the hat atop her head.

"Hmm... HUFFLEPUFF!"

One of the tables burst into applause, opening their arms as McGonagall took the hat and sent the girl off to them. The instant Hannah took a seat, the older witch turned back to the scroll. "Bones, Susan!"

Again, one of the first years came up and was donned with the hat. "...HUFFLEPUFF!" And again, the table burst into applause as it received new blood.

"Boot, Terry!"

"...RAVENCLAW!" This time, another table burst into applause.

Ruby nodded to herself as a 'Mandy Brocklehurst' was called up. "Okay, I can sort of see the logic here." ("RAVENCLAW!") "Houses are like... really big teams."

Ron nodded, a look of relief on his face. "I'm just glad my brothers were pranking me again." ("Brown, Lavender!" "GRYFFINDOR!")

"The twins, right?" Ruby asked. ("Bulstrode, Millicent!") "Fred and George?" ("Slytherin!")

"Yeah, they..." Ron's voice trailed off, even as Micheal Corner was sorted into Ravenclaw. "...They pulled one over me, didn't they?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know-hey, isn't that one of Draco's friends? Vincent something?" He pointed at the boy sitting under the hat.

"Yeah, I recognize him." Ruby shrugged as the boy was sorted into Slytherin. "Anyway, about the twins-"

"They're always pranking people," Ron muttered. ("Davis, Tracey!") "When I was a kid, they transfigured my teddy bear into a spider!" ("SLYTHERIN!") He quickly flushed. "Not that I sleep with a teddy bear anymore, you know-"

Ruby rolled her eyes with a small smile. ("Dunbar, Fay!") "Harry's always preferred stuffed dogs," she assured him. ("GRYFFINDOR!")

"Siiiiiiiis!" Harry whined melodramtically. ("English, Leanne!") "You're ruining my badass wizard cred!" ("GRYFFINDOR!")

"They have to be black," she added. ("Finch-Fletchly, Justin!") "No idea why." ("HUFFLEPUFF!")

"Hey, come on, you're always wearing black!" ("Finnigan, Seamus!") "You can't deny it's an awesome color!" ("GRYFFINDOR!")

Ruby beamed. "Don't you mean 'colour'?" ("Goldstein, Anthony!")

"That's... what I just said." ("RAVENCLAW!")

"No, you just said color, without the u." ("Goyle, Gregory!") "We're in Britan, so you need to say colour, with the u." ("SLYTHERIN! Ugh...")

"How do you-?"

"It's the accent," Hermione Granger interjected as she passed them on her way to the sorting hat.

Ruby nodded thankfully. "See? You've got to keep your pronounciations straight." ("GRYFFINDOR!")

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, because that's obviously going to be crucial." ("Greengrass, Daphne!") He frowned. "Wait, is it actually going to be important?" ("SLYTHERIN!") "I mean, if we mispronounce a magic word, what happens?"

There was a moment of somber contemplation while Wayne Hopkins was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"...Well, that's why there's a school, right?" Ruby finally offered. ("Jones, Megan!") "So we can learn things like this." ("HUFFLEPUFF!")

"Okay, fair enough. Hey Ron?" ("Li, Su!")

"Yeah Harry?"

"Has anyone in your family ever botched a spell by pronouncing it wrong?" ("Oh, yes. RAVENCLAW! _Some_ people...")

Ron considered the question for a moment or two. ("Longbottom, Neville!") "You know... I'm not actually sure. Maybe?" ("GRYFFINDOR! Whoa whoa boy boy boy! You _wait_ for the deputy headmistress to take me off, understand?")

Harry sighed. "Fine, whatever, I'll throw on a british accent." ("MacDougal, Isobel!") "Cheerio pip pip, 'ere's a spoot oov tea, eh lads, guvna, let's tolk boozzness savvy?" ("RAVENCLAW!")

Ron stared at him. "...I feel like I should be offended." ("Macmillan, Ernie!")

"I think you jumped five counties and an _ocean_ there," Ruby sniggered. ("HUFFLEPUFF!")

"Well excuse _me_ for being raised by a globe-trotter!" ("Malfoy, Draco!") "I've never settled down long enough to pick up something 'normal!'" ("SLYTHERIN!")

"And that's why you should regard this as a new opportunity." ("Malone, Roger!") "A chance to experience your native culture!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!")

"Oh, yes, _obviously_." ("Nott, Theodore!") "Picking up an accent is the _best_ thing about this whole experience." ("SLYTHERIN!")

"Well, you'll fit in with a local accent." ("Parkinson, Pansy!") "Oh, we've hit the P's! You'll be up soon, Harry." ("SLYTHERIN!")

Ron glanced up at her. "What's your accent, anyway?" ("Patil, Padma!")

"I grew up on an island called Patch." ("RAVENCLAW!") "We sort of had a blend of all kinds there."

"Where's Patch?" ("Patil, Parvatil!")

Ruby's eyes grew distant. ("GRYFFINDOR!") "...Good question..."

"Potter, Harry!"

"Whoop, that's me." Harry steeled himself. "Wish me luck!"

"Like you need it!" Ruby quipped with a smile as he walked up to the head table. She glanced around, noting that the tables had gone uncomfortably quiet. "...right, the whole boy-who-lived thing."

"It is kind of important," Ron pointed out.

The sorting hat seemed to be deep in concentration. "...Hmmm... difficult... yes, well... hmmm. Well... are you sure? Oh, very well. I suppose it had better be GRYFFINDOR!"

On cue, the appropriate table exploded into applause. "WE GOT POTTER!" shouted a pair of familiar redheads.

Ruby took a breath. "Well, at least the twins will keep Harry safe from the dangers of fame."

Ron frowned. "Fame's dangerous?"

"It can cloud judgement... Well, I suppose I'm worrying over nothing."

"Rivers, Oliver!"

"And Gryffindor's the best house," Ron pointed out.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, all my family's been in there!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Ruby sighed. "Every house has its good and bad, from what I can tell. You should judge for yourself, Ron, or you might just become-"

"Rose, Ruby!"

"Sorry, table that for now. Talk to you later!"

If Harry's walk down the Great Hall had generated silence, Ruby's walk generated waves of conversation. She obviously _wasn't_ a child-very obviously, noted a few of the oldest students-yet here she was, being sorted with all the rest of the first years. Confusion, speculation, and general gossip filled the air like... well, school gossip, to be honest. Ruby didn't pay it any mind, simply turning and sitting on the stool and allowing McGonagall to put the hat on her head.

 _Now this_ is _different. Quite different indeed!_

"...are you in my head?"

_Well, yes. Don't worry, I'm enchanted not to tell anyone any secrets I learn. I would literally burst into fire before I could. Now, what to do with you, miss Rose?_

"Honestly, I was thinking Gryffindor-"

_No no no. Definitely not._

"What?"

_Oh, don't get me wrong. You're very brave, by the standards of THIS world. But I have to judge you by your own standards, now don't I? And Huntresses, while quite brave even for Remnant society, are an expected sort of brave. You know how to handle monsters and dangerous people, yes, but there's more to bravery than just combat prowess._

"Well, I did raise Harry-"

_You tried to put him in an orphanage first! And you only took him with you after, what, three years helping the matrons raise him? No, I'm sorry miss Rose, but while you can face danger you simply do not have that iron core that people expect of Gryffindors. And besides, would it really be best for Harry if his mother figure was always in the same room with him? He has to learn to walk on his own two feet eventually!_

Ruby sighed. "...okay, you have a point there."

_Which leaves us with the other three houses. You know, I prefer to sort children-they're generally still very clear, not having been confronted with the complexities of the world and incorporated them into themselves. You have a very simple soul, though... not stupid, certainly, but your sense of self is far clearer then that of most others your age._

"...thank you?"

_So. Ravenclaw, probably not. You're a prodigy, yes, and your age does make you more educated, but from what I've seen of your study habits you don't quite have the voraciousness for knowledge expected. Slytherin... well, you are very ambitious, in very limited ways. You want to give Harry the best life, you want to find a way home, you want to help rebuild Vale after the attack-really, those ambitions come from a single, deeper source._

"Oh, I think I see where this is going."

 _It's quite obvious, when you think about it. You want to make the world a better place for everyone. That sort of loyalty, that sort of willingness to see the best in a bad situation-well, it might be one of the more underestimated houses, but there's a reason Helga was one of the founders and it wasn't because of her pretty face. Yes, miss Rose, I do believe you will shine as a bright beacon in_ "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The appropriate table burst into applause as McGonagall took the hat from her head. She walked past some of the older ones, moving into an empty space between the first and second years.

"So, um." One of the girls next to her coughed. "You seem a bit old to be attending Hogwarts...?" ("Thomas, Dean!")

"Remedial lessons." Ruby held out her hand. "So I'm Ruby Rose, you probably already know that. What's your name?" ("GRYFFINDOR!")

"Maxine O'Flaherty." ("Turpin, Lisa!") "Everybody calls me Mad Max, for some reason." ("RAVENCLAW!")

"Huh, I think I've seen that film." ("Weasley, Ronald!") She turned to watch the Sorting. "Oh, hey, I met that guy on the train."

"Well, he's not coming here. All Weasleys are Gryffs, everybody knows-"

"Hmm. Well, that's interesting! HUFFLEPUFF!"

Maxine blinked. "...Okay, that's different."

Ruby waved eagerly. "Ron! Over here!" She slid to the side, letting the boy sit next to her. "Good to see you again!" ("Zabini, Blaise!")

"Yes, well... I don't know." Ron shrugged awkwardly. ("SLYTHERIN!") "Hufflepuff isn't bad, it's just-"

An elderly man at the center of the head table rose, garnering the attention of everyone present. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He waved his hands, and suddenly food appeared on the plates in front of the students.

"...Oooookay." Ruby looked around. "So... that's the mood we're going for. I can roll with that."


	6. The Responsibilities of Awesomeness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never met any headmaster with funky clothes, funky glasses, or funky reasoning.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, miss Rose." Maxine nodded, taking some of the rolls from the plate in front of her. "How come you need remedial lessons anyway?"

"Death Eaters burned her original acceptance letter or something," Ron explained, reaching out for a slice of ham. "That's right, innat?"

"Well, professor McGonagall wasn't sure what happened, but that's her guess." Ruby looked around, reaching out and snatching a few dozen cookies. "Anyway, we ran into each other in Ethiopia, she explained what Hogwarts was, and one thing led to another..."

"How'd she know you were a witch, then?"

"She caught me using my semblance."

Maxine tilted her head. "Your what now?"

"My... right." Ruby paused between shoveling cookies in her mouth. "See, I... have this ability to move very fast. So fast, that I turn into a stream of rose petals. It's a very handy trick, lets me practically teleport around in dangerous situations-which, if I'm entirely honest, is a vital component of my job. I didn't realize it was magic until after McGonagall explained it."

Ron's jaw fell open, letting the slab of pork in his teeth drop to his plate. "You can _apperate?_ Wandlessly?!"

"Wait, that doesn't quite sound like apperation," Maxine mused. "I mean, if you apperated you would... it would be instant, you would be one place then the other-"

"Even if it's not, it's still bloody impressive! Self-transfiguration is, like, NEWT level stuff! And she figured it out on her own, without ever knowing it was magic!"

"It's only one trick," Ruby pointed out. "Granted, I've figured out how to use it in a lot of different ways, but it's not nearly as expansive as all the spells that are apparently taught here."

"Ron's right though." Maxine rose her eyebrows. "With a trick like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you got jumped up a few years. After your basic education, of course."

Ruby let out a good-natured sigh. "I'm just doomed to be a prodigy, aren't I?"

"Yomm shay tham limph imph a bmmph fing," Ron mused around a mouthful of potatoes.

"I used to think it was. Wanted to be just normal Ruby... well, maybe a little above average, but not somebody so awesome the world would place demands on me." Ruby shrugged. "Then I grew up and realized... there is no normal. There is only awesomeness, and those willing to handle the responsibilities that come with it."

"What about people like... you-know-who?" Maxine asked. "I mean, he was horrible, but he did sort of conquer Britain through fear and dark magic. That's kind of awesome, in a really bad way."

"Well, interesting thing. Being evil has a sort of deleterious effect on awesomeness. You can be evil and awesome, but to qualify for that you need to be more awesome then it takes to be good and awesome, you see? Like, saving one life makes you cool, but it takes killing a hundred to make you equally cool." Ruby shrugged. "Or something. It's more resource-intensive. If you want to be awesome, be good."

The younger girl rose an eyebrow. "You're not just saying that to make sure I don't stray over to the dark side, are you?"

"I have eaten thirty two cookies while we've been talking. I don't think I have any position to tell you right from wrong."

"You did raise Harry," Ron pointed out as he shoveled some rolls onto his plate.

Ruby nodded and sighed. "True." She took a few potatoes and some turkey onto her plate. "In all seriousness... I've killed bad guys. Part of my job. But even when it's exciting, it's... a flash in the pan. The people I save, those looks of wonder as they realize they're out of whatever hell they've been in for so long... that's what sticks with me."

Maxine stared at her. "You've... killed people."

Ruby snorted. "Oh, yes, that's the part that sticks out. Look, you know the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. I'm just the girl who goes to fight monsters so the parts that are stay all sunshiney and... rainbow...y." She gained a wicked smirk and pinched Maxine's cheek. "I'd never let anything happen to you little kiddos!"

"Hey! Whoa!" Maxine slapped her hand away. "Seriously, don't do that!"

"Alright! Alright." Ruby held up her hands. "I'll keep to myself."

"So what's your name?" Ron asked, leaning forward.

"Maxine O'Flaherty. People call me Mad Max."

"Ronald Weasly." He stuck his hand out. "Call me Ron."

"Nice to meet you." Maxine took the hand. "Surprised to see a Weasley outside Gryffindor."

Ron shrugged. "Well, you know. Just... it's like, we're all brave, right? The Weasleys, I mean. If I wanted to be just another Weasley... I figured, maybe it's time for a little change."

"Well, don't let the reputation fool you. Us Puffs are a force to be reckoned with." She pointed a thumb at Ruby. "Case in point."

"Oh, obviously. I'm not saying you're... that we're cowards, but..." Ron's eyes darted around nervously. "So! Do you follow quidditch?"

"Follow? I'm one of the Hufflepuff beaters!"

"Really? Huh." Ron looked at Maxine with new respect. "You won the cup last year, didn't you?"

"Yep." The girl preened. "It was a team effort of course, but if I'm entirely honest a well timed bludger to a seeker might have been crucial to our success."

"Whoa."

Ruby cleared her throat. "Speaking as the person who wasn't involved in the magical world until very recently, I'm going to assume that was impressive?"

"Well, yeah. Seekers are always zipping around the field. Getting a bludger even in their vicinity, that takes skill." Ron nodded at Maxine. "And she's a girl!"

"What's being a girl have to do with it?" Maxine demanded.

"Uh... well." Ron looked to Ruby for help.

"No, you started this hole, you'll dig it yourself."

"Um. It's just..." Ron looked around. "Like... older people, right? They think girls are supposed to be, you know, kitchens and dresses and... stuff. And since they're the ones who, you know, built the world we live in, you have to be really impressive if you can overcome that! Right?"

Maxine quirked an eyebrow. "...That isn't a terrible save," she admitted. "You could work on your delivery, though."

"He is eleven," Ruby pointed out.

"True, true. We've got a few years to train him up."

Ron gulped. "Train me up on what?"

Maxine opened her mouth, but at that moment the elderly man at the head table stood, and the great hall fell silent.

"Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." The man flashed his eyes in the direction of the Gryffindor table. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

His tone grew somber. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

A few of the first years laughed, but let their voices die when they realized nobody was joining in.

"Okay, what?" Ruby stared at him. "The guy's not serious, is he?"

Maxine shrugged. "Nah, using magic in corridors is fine if nobody catches you."

Ruby gave her a look.

"Oh, the painful death thing? Yeah, that's weird..." She waggled a hand. "It's Dumbledore, he probably has a reason."

The old man beamed suddenly. "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" He flicked his wand, letting words form in the air.

Maxine groaned. "Oh no."

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," Dumbledore said gleefully, "and off we go!"

Ruby winced at the resulting cacophony. "Oh, Weiss and Blake would _hate_ this..."

"Should we join in?" Ron asked.

She tapped her chin, and shrugged. "Well, why not. It's harmless nonsense."

The two of them lent their voices to the crazed ocean of sounds, only bound together by the pattern of words that held the singers, if they could be called that, as deranged students desperate to fill their empty heads. Of course, it was Ron's twin brothers that ended up hosting the finale, their grim tones only underlying the sad and delusional lyrics.

When they finished, the old man clapped in strangely genuine pride. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Ruby stood, pushing back from the bench, turning to Maxine. "Does he do this every year?"

"The song? Nah." Maxine winced. "But when he does, it's always horrible."

"Congratulations!" bellowed a brown-haired boy. "I'm prefect Gabriel Truman, and I'm delighted to welcome you to HUUUUUUUUUUUFFLEPUFF HOUSE!"

"Oh here we go," Max muttered.

"Now I know what some of you are thinking." The boy held up finger. "'Huffs are duffers! House of spares! My mum's gonna kill me when she finds out I'm not in an important house!'" He snorted. "Utter rubbish, the lot of it! One brave Gryffindor can _maybe_ take down a troll solo. One intelligent Ravenclaw can _possibly_ invent a revolutionary spell that will change the world forever. One crafty Slytherin might _just_ land a deal that makes them a few dozen galleons richer. And one loyal Hufflepuff? We'll help them up when they fail so they can try again, and again, and again."

He pointed at the crests. "Lions roar! Eagles soar! Serpents gorge! And badgers forge! Never forget that, my young badgers. Your friends in all the other houses will seek glory in their own ways. Let them. Glory is not our way; glory is fleeting and warps over time. No, we make that which endures. Arithmancy, herbology, magical creatures... you will find that more then half your textbooks were written by members of our own house. We invest in each other, we stand with our friends, and we celebrate together. Let others make their legacy; it is we who shall keep those legacies alive. Let others earn their accolades; we are the ones who shall write the history books. Let others charge bravely, or scheme darkly, or think deeply; in the end, it will always be a Hufflepuff that directs their destiny."

"Well, he certainly is passionate," Ruby commented with a half smirk.

"Now ONWARD!" Gabriel twirled about, finger raised. "Let us off to the Hufflepuff basement, and your family away from home! Ha _ha!"_ He marched cheerfully out of the great hall, the first years being gently herded along by the other students as they followed him down a small escalier to the right of the grand staircase.

Ron paused with a frown, watching half the student body ascend the central flight. Ruby tracked his gaze, following Harry's own path, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Just because we're in different houses doesn't mean we're never going to see our brothers again."

The boy huffed. "That's not what I'm worried about. It's just..."

"The 'Huffers are duffers' nonsense?"

"Why would so many people believe it if it's complete nonsense?"

"It rhymes and simplifying people keeps them from overheating their brains. Trust me, anyone who says all of these guys act that way are just too lazy to think about that sort of thing. And besides," Ruby pointed out as she guided him down the stairs, "we're closest to the Great Hall, we'll get to meals first."

"And the kitchens are right over there," Max added, gesturing toward a painting of a fruit bowl as they passed.. "Just tickle the pear whenever you're hungry and ask the house elves for a snack."

Ron seemed to perk up a bit at that.

The crowd of students slowed in front of a stack of large winebarrels, arranged in a nook to the right. Gabriel gestured toward them. "If you want to get into Gryiffindor or Slytherin, you need to know the password for the day. And for Ravenclaw, you must answer a riddle. And if you get any of that wrong... well, you just can't get in. Our common room? That's a little trickier." His hand traced the rim of a barrel. "Two from the bottom! Middle of the second row. Tap this barrel, and ONLY this barrel, in the following pattern: Helga. Hufflepuff." He stood aside as the lid swung open. "You tap the wrong barrel, or in the wrong pattern? Every OTHER barrel here is filled with vinegar, and it only takes one to drench you. No outsider has seen the Hufflepuff dorms since this school was founded! You are about to witness something only a quarter of britain's wizarding population has ever seen."

A sly smirk formed on Gabriel's face. "Are you ready?"

There was a general murmur of anticipation.

"NO! I said ARE! YOU! READY?!"

"Yeah!" Ruby cried, joining in the eager shouts of the other first years. Max rolled her eyes, but there was a small smirk on her face.

"Well alright then. Crawl on in. One at a time, please, one at a time, first years first."

The sudden casual order got the children moving, and even Ron had a faint smile on his face as he joined the crowd. Gabriel held out a hand when Ruby stepped forward, cocking his head to one side. "Miss Rose, a moment?"

"Call me Ruby, please."

"Ruby." The prefect cleared his throat. "Pomona Sprout, our head of house, came over during the feast and told me about your situation. You're going to be sharing a dorm with some seventh-year students-Nymphadora Tonks, Barbara Fawley, Blair Shafiq, and Crystal Bell, this year."

"Got it." Ruby frowned as the other students started crawling in. "Is that going to cause issues for them, though?"

"Not at all. Professor Sprout went ahead and informed them as well, and she's already had the house elves move in an extra bed."

"Alright. I'll need to talk to them-oh, and I need to have a chat with headmaster Dumbledore, as soon as possible. Tonight would actually be preferable. Do you know how I can arrange that?"

"Actually, Blair's Head Girl this year. Hey Blair?" He waved one of the seventh-year girls over. "Can you get Ruby here to the Headmaster's office right quick? I'll tell your roommates to wait up for you."

"Oh, of course, of course. You're the witch what missed her acceptance letter, aint'cha?" The dark-skinned girl gave a grunt. "Ach, terribly awkward then, hm. Come on, the Headmaster's office is on the seventh floor. It's a walk, but we can get ye up and down fast enough this late."

She put a hand on the woman's shoulder, walking her up the stairs, and up more stairs, and into a massive towering chamber filled with the slow grinding of rotating stairs.

Ruby stared. "Okay. That's... one way to do things, I guess."

"Castle's old, miss Rose. What, ye want a lift to rest your wobbly knees?"

She gave Blair a look. "I'm not that old, girl."

"Well come on then, we've got a ways to go."

With the confidence of experience, Blair led her half a dozen of the moving staircases, pointing out specific steps that would cause issues as she hopped over them and casually plotting out which set of stairs to chase out next. Ruby noticed the Weasley twins across the way as the final staircase slowly orbited into place; they gave her a wave and a grin as they stepped into a hole in the wall, their path quickly cut off when a painting of a large woman swung shut behind them.

"You know those two?"

"Met them at King's Cross. My little brother got sorted into Gryffindor, is that their dorm?"

"Yes. Ye have a brother?"

"Harry Potter. Legally, adopted son, but the age difference-"

"Ah. Gotcha." Blair gave Ruby a look, leading her down the hall. "Is he what ye wanted to talk to the headmaster about?"

"Well, yes. Mostly to confirm some details." Ruby shrugged. "I'm not going to be a helicopter mom."

"Helicopter... that's one of those muggle things, in't it? Some kind of car?"

Ruby blinked, giving Blair a look. "Um. No. It's... a flight-capable vehicle, known to hover and-look, my point is I'm not going to control Harry's destiny for him. I'm not going to demand special treatment, or that I can see his grades, or anything like that. I only need to check a few things, and then it should be all clear."

"Oh, ye mean you're not going to be a Puffett."

"I... guess?"

Blair chuckled wryly. "And you're going up to the Headmaster's, on the first day of his school year, to check on a few details."

Ruby huffed. "I meant what I said."

"Of course ye did," the young student assured her with an amused grin. She turned to a gargoyle standing in a recessed wall. "Exploding Bonbons."

The stone statue moved, its motions jerkily smooth, and revealed a small staircase behind it.

"I'm calling it now," Ruby deadpanned, "magic users are just plain obsessed with stairs."

It wasn't long before the woman stepped foot into the large circular room at the front of the stairs. She took note of the many bookshelves, towering between the collage of windows and portraits of slumbering individuals that dominated the room; she kept out of reach of the silver items that puffed away atop spindly-legged tables. Her eyes passed over the now-still hat resting on a shelf, and the red bird perched over an ash-filled dish, before finally settling on the wizened man with a knee-length beard and clothes clearly pulled from seven different outfits.

His eyes twinkled as he met her gaze. "Hello, miss Rose. What brings you my office?"

"I thought I'd check on the man who left an infant on a porch in the dead of night and see if he was really responsible enough to run a school full of magic-wielding children."

"Ah." Headmaster Dumbledore steepled his fingers. "I see. You know, most people in the wizarding community see me as some noble hero, a wise leader of light, and entirely forget that underneath my century's worth of experience I am but a man. And all men make mistakes from time to time."

"Yes," Ruby allowed, "practical mistakes like using the wrong spices in cooking, or accidentally spending too much money, or getting drunk and crashing a car. Or social mistakes, insulting somebody without meaning it, not picking up on feelings, or refusing to alter your beliefs when something disproves them." She gripped the corners of the desk, leaning forward. "Leaving an infant on a porch in the dead of night? That kind of mistake is much bigger."

"I suppose I should give you some context." The headmaster stood, very slowly. "On the thirty first of October, nineteen eighty-one, Voldemort killed Harry's parents and attacked him before, mysteriously, vanishing. Officially that is when the war with the Death Eaters ended, but... life is not nearly so clean-cut. True, their leader's fall freed many from the Imperius curse-an unforgivable robbing of their will-and not too few used that as an excuse to beg leniency. A few remained at large, torturing and killing in the belief that their master would return; the Ministry of Magic rounded them up swiftly-perhaps a bit too swiftly in some cases, desperate as they were to calm the nation after the horrors that had been inflicted on it."

"Healing after any tragedy is hard. I can understand that." Ruby leaned back and crossed her arms. "That doesn't explain why you left an infant on a porch in the dead of night."

"In that political climate, Harry Potter would have been a tool." Dumbledore sighed, his feet walking him around the room slowly. "If one of the Death Eaters got ahold of him, he would either be killed as an example or raised fanatically loyal to Voldemort's teachings. Should one of their opponents house him, he'd be a prized trophy to show off or, perhaps, a spokesperson for their own agenda. Even if he was given to a loving, caring wizarding family who raised him as he should be raised, the wizarding community on the whole would try to manipulate them in dozens of different ways." He paused, between the door and the woman he was speaking to. "Petunia Dursley, his aunt, was not part of the magical world. And if there is one flaw in our society, it is our tendency to ignore those outside it. In her family, Harry Potter would grow up without the pressures of being a hero. He would have his own life."

"Okay." Ruby unfolded her arms with a nod. "I can actually commend that sort of thinking. Putting the kid's self ahead of his fame, very good." She put a hand on her hip. "There's still the part where, instead of waiting till morning and making sure Petunia took Harry in, you _left an infant on a porch in the dead of night!"_ She threw up a hand in exasperation. "Seriously, what the hell were you thinking?! He could have woken up and crawled out into the street, or died in the cold or been eaten by some random animal-I mean, a fifteen-year-old GIRL was able to snatch him up with no trouble whatsoever, and you are damn lucky that I wasn't a human trafficker or deluded enough to think I was up to the task of raising him on my own. It took me THREE DAYS to find an orphanage, did you know that? Three whole days, carrying that baby down the streets of Little Whinging and, frankly, that was a lucky break for us both."

She took a breath.

"Look. Babies need a lot of work. Past a certain point, yes, you can leave kids at their friend's or family's place and expect them to take care of themselves, but... if they're not old enough to walk and talk, you should make sure they have a competent caretaker-and I mean make sure, meet with them face to face, get them to say very explicitly 'I Will Take Care Of This Child.' Maybe you can handle a castle full of tweens and teens, but I don't think you should be trying to help anybody younger then ten."

Dumbledore smiled faintly as his twinkling eyes looked into hers. "I'll take that under advisement, miss Rose."

"Honestly, this is just common sense. Did you knock? Ring the doorbell? Do _anything_ to get Petunia's attention?"

"I layered a number of charms on the boy."

"Really. What number?"

"Twenty seven."

Ruby quirked an eyebrow. "Twenty seven."

"Thirteen charms that ensured he would last the night, all of which would have faded a few days later. Seven charms meant to protect him from ordinary hazards as he grew up-I suspect most of them are gone, without the upkeep I would have expected. And seven more to protect him from more magical ones. Some might still be active."

She opened her mouth, paused, and sighed. "Alright. So you're _slightly_ more responsible than I thought. I'm still pretty annoyed at you, though-like I said, a random girl was able to pick him up, so clearly your spells didn't work."

"Something I find quite surprising. One of the charms I used should have made that impossible..." Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But then, I made the silly mistake of not considering that somebody could come here from another world."

Crescent Rose swung out from behind Ruby's cloak, barrel extending into the headmaster's face.

"What," Ruby said in a tone of barely forced calm, "do you know about that?"

Dumbledore's eyes stopped twinkling. "Nothing more than you."

"I prefer my headmasters less cryptic. Try again."

"Legilimency is a magic that allows a wizard to examine the mind of others," he explained, seemingly unperturbed by the gun inches from his nose. "It is a rare art, but it can be useful in determining whether another is imperiused, or if one needs to determine what the intentions of a potential assailant are."

Ruby took a sharp breath. "You were poking around my head."

"Yes. I was attempting to determine who you were, how you bypassed those charms, and what your intentions toward Harry were. For that, I make no apologies."

The fingers around Crescent Rose's barrel tightened. "The last mind-delver I met triggered the violent destruction of my home by a horde of shadow monsters."

Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow. "I... see. I did not go looking for that sort of memory. If I may, I could arrange Occlumency lessons for you."

"Occlumency."

"The method of protecting one's mind from intruders. It requires a strong will, but..." He glanced at the gun's muzzle, as if noticing it for the first time. "Somehow, I suspect you have willpower aplenty."

Ruby frowned, considering him for a moment or two.

"...You know, I'm a very trusting person. I try to give everyone I meet a chance to show me their best selves. And frankly, mister Dumbledore, you've just shown me your worst."

"No." The headmaster shook his head, eyes downcast. "Believe me, miss Rose, I have not."

"Well then, you had better hope you never do." Ruby retracted Crescent Rose and returned her weapon to its place under her cloak. "Because right now I am still willing to give you a chance, but you're on very thin ice. I've got my adopted son to worry about, and I certainly won't trust him to you if you make another wrong move."

"Of course. I'll contact you when I find an appropriate tutor for your Occlumency lessons. And should you ever need anything else, help at Hogwarts is always given to those who ask."

"...is that a general sentiment, or is there some sort of magical help field that actually exists in this place?"

Dumbledore developed a wry grin. "Yes."

Ruby gave him a flat look. "Thin. Ice." She pushed past him, reaching for the door.

"A moment, miss Rose?"

She glanced over her shoulder.

"When I left Harry on that doorstep, I hoped to give him a decent and, perhaps, a happy childhood. I am glad to see that even if my plans did not come fruition, my intentions were followed through. And I find myself curious as to how your continued support will help him in the future."

"Oh, don't worry Dumbledore. I'll make sure Harry gets what's best for him." Ruby opened the door and gave him one last pointed look. "Even if I have to take you down."

The headmaster watched her slam the door shut, and listened as her feet stomped down the stairs. "Yes... I find myself very curious indeed."


	7. Landing Strategy 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not have a functioning landing strategy or broomstick.

Harry Potter looked up from his book as a bushy-haired girl entered the room with a small yawn. "Morning."

"Wha-? Oh. Good morning..." She paused for a moment. "...mister Potter...?"

"It's just Harry."

"Harry. Right." She glanced at the clock. "You're up early."

"Habit I picked up travelling with my sister. Eyes pop open, six thirty sharp. Easier to net a private shower that way."

"Your sister? The books never said you had a sister..."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "...You're that girl that was looking for a toad yesterday, weren't you?"

"Wha-oh. Yes. Hermione Granger."

"Yeah, the woman in my compartment? That was my big sister."

Hermione stared at him for a couple of seconds. "...Ruby Rose."

"Yep."

She looked at the clock, then back at him. "And... how does that work, exactly?"

"She found me on a doorstep, took me to an orphanage, then adopted me when she was old enough." Harry shrugged. "I mean, legally she's my mother, but given the age difference we're more siblings then anything."

"Oh. That makes sense." Hermione awkwardly fidgeted with her hair. "...and she's enrolled into Hogwarts because...?"

"She wasn't aware of the magical world up until a few months ago, but she does have magic. Professor McGonagal thinks Death Eaters intercepted her Hogwarts acceptance letter the first time it was sent." Harry grinned. "Personally, I think it's because she's an alien."

"Well, she's obviously not from the isles."

"No, I mean, she's not from Earth."

Hermione gave him an odd look. "...riiiiiiiiight. So. What are you reading?"

"Oh, just going over the magical theory textbook again."

"You've read the textbooks," she commented approvingly.

"Sis insisted. Safety, you know? I mean, I don't want to accidentally fireball anybody or something like that." He gave her a wry grin. "Now purposefully fireballing somebody, I might consider it."

Hermione made a face. "I would think it would be wrong to set anybody on fire for any reason."

"Like I said, I'd consider it before actually doing it."

"That's probably a good idea," said Fred Weasley (or maybe it was George), coming down the other set of stairs.

"There's a lot to consider when setting people ablaze," George added, although it might have been Fred.

"Do they deserve it?"

"Do they deserve something else?"

"Exactly how flammable is the individual?"

"Are you aiming for general immolation, or burning a specific portion?"

"How long do you want the period of incandescence to be?"

"How permanent do you want the damage?"

"What colour should you make the flame?"

"To smoke, or not to smoke?"

"And of course, the most crucial question-"

"-the fundamental one before any other-"

"-can you get away with it?" they finished, as one.

Hermione inched away from the pair of gingers. "Ah... well... that's... a very thorough set of questions that I hope never to have to ask." She cleared her throat. "So... breakfast isn't for another fifteen minutes. Would anyone like to join Harry and me in a last minute study session?"

"Actually, I'm just waiting for Ruby," Harry explained. "We usually have an early-morning workout, you see. Well, whenever we can, anyway..."

The bushy-haired girl gave him an odd look. "Um... does she know where the Gryffindor common room is?"

"We saw her heading up to the headmaster's last night," George confirmed, unless it was Fred of course.

"Gave her a wave as we headed in," Fred added, except that it was entirely possible that he was George.

"We really need to get you two nametags," Harry murmured to himself.

"Okay, even if she knows where the common room is, how is she going to get past the portrait on the door without the password?"

Harry held up his finger, considered the question for a moment, and shut his book. "Good point. I'll go check to see if she's waiting outside." He strode toward the exit... and then he paused. "So... stupid question, how do I get out?"

"What?"

"There's not a knob," he explained. "Do I just ask the portrait lady to-"

"You say the password," Hermione explained with exasperation. "Here, look- 'Pig Snout.'"

The door swung open, revealing an exasperated Ruby Rose glaring at the portrait. "See? I told you he was waiting for me."

"This is no time for children his age to be awake," grumbled the woman on the portrait.

"You're just put off that I woke you up."

"I am an animate image of oils and colour. Beauty sleep is essential for me!"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You're getting far too much of it if you ask me," she griped.

"I-ah..." The woman in the portrait blinked. "That is... well-"

"Well now, there's a clever turn of phrase," said one of the twins, with an amused grin. "Right, brother mine?"

"Quite right, brother mine." The other twin gave Ruby a look. "We might have to keep an eye on this one."

"I hope you'll be looking at her actions and not acting on her looks," Harry quipped as he strode past them. "Hey sis, how long have you been waiting?"

"I spent the last twenty minutes trying to get a message through Morven here!"

"Oh, sorry. Still new to this whole magic thing..."

"No, it's alright." Ruby sighed. "I think it might be best if we meet in the Great Hall from now on, since _some people_ apparently think their comfort is more important then a student's health and family."

The woman in the portrait scoffed at her glower. "I don't know what madness you have, but in my day it was considered reasonable to expect a full night's worth of sleep."

Ruby pointed out a window. "The sun is up."

"And are the majority of students awake?" the portrait replied.

Ruby opened her mouth, paused, and frowned. "Why am I arguing with a painting?"

"It's a certainly a novel experience," Harry agreed.

"Hmm. Well, I don't think I should be wasting any more time. I'll meet you downstairs."

"Don't you mean you'll walk him downstairs?" Hermione asked, as though correcting her grammar.

"He's old enough to walk himself," Ruby replied, pulling something out from underneath the red cloak she wore.

The twins leaned forward in interest. "What have you got there?" asked what was, most likely, Fred.

"Crescent Rose." The boxy red thing began to unfold. "She's been my baby girl longer then Harry's been my little brother."

George's eyes widened. At least, Harry thought it was George. "Is that a scythe?!"

Ruby clambered onto the landing railing. "It's also a high-impact sniper rifle!"

"A _sniper rifle?!_ " Hermione shrieked. "Do you even have a _license_ for that thing?!"

"Surprisingly, yes." Ruby looked back, gave a salute and a grin, and tilted down into the empty space of the grand staircase tower.

Three of the four Gryffindor students watching immediately rushed to the railing, gripping it and leaning over. Harry trotted over sedately, placing an elbow on the railing and leaning over.

Ratcheting clinks announced the descent of the red-headed woman, accompanied by the brazen hum of blade on stone every time Crescent Rose caught a stairway mid-motion. Ruby flowed as she fell, feet kicking off the sides of stairs; at one point she spiralled around a set for two whole revolutions. Down, up, left, right-every ch-chlink of her weapon sent her spinning a whole new direction, and yet she never seemed to lose control of her direction. Just before she hit the ground, Crescent Rose shot down and thrust her into one last somersault before digging deep into the brick floor.

She turned to a man clinging a pushbroom like a lifeline and flashed a bright grin. "Good morning!"

"Are you some... sort of angel of death then?"

"Only when I'm on duty!" Ruby chirped brightly, folding up Crescent Rose and storing her beneath the red cloak.

"Oh. Well..." The man's stance went from utterly terrified to extremly cautious. "Could you not shoot up the school? I have enough to clean up as is."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I'll keep the shooting to a minimum." Her eyes fell downward, and she knelt. "Oh, hello! You're a cute little kitty, aren't you? What's your name?"

The cat looked at her for a moment. She shared a glance with the broom-wielding human. Then she turned around and bolted.

"Missus Norris! Wait!" The man rushed after her.

Atop the stairs, Fred (most likely) gave a low whistle. "Well now I'm wondering why she's not in our house. I'd almost think she had auror training or something."

"I don't know Fred." Aha, that one was George! "She's skilled with that thing. And muggles have their own version of aurors, right?"

Hermione was hyperventilating, her hands clutching at her head. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god."

Harry cleared his throat. "You, ah... you alright there?"

She looked at him, wild-eyed. "This is the woman that raised you?!"

"Well, not alone, but for most of my life yeah-"

Hermione lunged at him, her hands moving to his shoulders so fast that some hairs were still tangled in them. "You don't do things like that, do you?! YOU WON'T THROW YOURSELF OFF THE STAIRS?!"

"No! No of course not!" Harry held up his hands. "I'm a perfectly sane and rational eleven-year-old, just like you!"

"Oh thank god. Good. Good, I-no, I, I can't even-" Hermione released him, trying to force herself to take deeper, slower breaths. "Okay. Okay. That was insane, and you are not. Okay."

"Hermione, relax." Harry patted her shoulder. "My landing strategy's only rated for two stories. I know my limits." He walked past her suddenly stock still body and started down the stairs... properly.

* * *

A small river of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had begun to emerge from their common rooms by the time Harry and the others made it to the bottom of the stairs. A few odd looks were shot their way as they entered the great hall, seeing as they were the only four Gryiffindors in the hall at the moment, and those stares only increased as two of them headed not for their own table, but the already half-gathered crowd around the Hufflepuff table. Harry waved to his sister but, before he could say anything, his housemate had slammed her hands onto the table.

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?!" Hermione screeched.

Ruby blinked, looking at her for a moment or two. "...Well, there's a reaction I wasn't expecting."

"You weren't _expecting-?!_ You just dropped down six stories using a, a, a shape-shifting red scythe sniper rifle thing and-"

"Wait, what?" The teenager sitting next to Ruby stared at her. "Did you really drop six flights?"

"I knew exactly what I was doing. It was perfectly safe."

"Cor. Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Well, Nym, you're welcome to join me and Harry in our morning warm-up-"

"YOU WERE SHOOTING BULLETS EVERYWHERE!" Hermione insisted.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Okay, first of all, they were not bullets. Bullets are solid projectiles launched by chemical force. The cartridges I use have Dust capsules."

"Why would you use dirt as-?"

"And secondly, the only reason I do not have a degree in applied physics is because I can't be bothered to sit through the nonsense that most universities demand you need to earn one. I knew where every shot was going to hit half a second before I pulled the trigger, I can write out the equations going through my head as I controlled my descent-"

The bushy-haired girl slammed a roll of parchment on the table. "PROVE IT."

Ruby looked down, shrugged, and pulled a pen from her pocket. "Alright, but it'll take a few minutes."

Hermione blinked. "Wait. You're actually going to write this out?"

"You asked her to prove it," Ron pointed out, already having piled his plate with pastries. "I mean, I don't get why she's agreed to scribble out numbers-"

 _"You!"_ The already unusual gathering was interrupted by a blonde boy shoving the young witch aside and glaring at the other Gryffindor. "You said you weren't Harry Potter!"

Harry glanced from him to the annoyed Hermione. "Actually, I believe all I said was that I've never met Harry Potter. Rather difficult for me to do, you see-"

"Think you're funny, do you Potter?" The boy crossed his arms. "Trying to make me look like a fool?"

"...I think I'm missing my half of the script here," Harry hesitantly replied.

"Do you even know who I am?"

"Your name is Draco Malfoy, you were sorted into Slytherin, and apparently you're angry at me."

Draco scoffed. "Somehow I'm not surprised you're so ignorant. You're at the wrong table, for one thing."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, actually, I'm here to talk with my sister."

Draco blinked. "Wait, you mean that rumor about Rose Potter is actually true?"

"Actually, my name is _Ruby_ Rose." Ruby glanced up briefly and gave a little wave before returning her attention to the parchment.

"...You're not nearly young enough to be his twin."

"Who ever said she was my twin?" Harry asked.

"You're kind of a legend, mate," Ron explained. "There's a lot of Harry Potter stories floating about. Like the one where you're You-Know-Who's secret love child, or the one where you were raised by Kneazles-the Rose Potter as a secret twin thing's been around since I was five, I think."

"Yeah, and that's not even the craziest one. There's this crazy Potter story I found in my mum's knicker drawer once with a girl called Raven Enoby something or other, and then there's the one I heard some Gryffindor talking about involving groinsaws... it gets pretty weird, Harry." The teenage girl shrugged, looking over Ruby's shoulder, and her eyes widened. "Uh, I don't think Hermione's going to be able to understand those equations."

"What makes you say that, Nym?"

"Ruby, _I_ don't understand that, and I'm a seventh year."

Ruby paused, giving her an unnerved look. "It's really just basic human ballistics. I learned this in grade school. I mean, yeah, I was a prodigy, but this-"

Harry coughed into his fist.

She gave him a flat look. "Yeah, Harry, we're going to have to talk about that later. Table it for now, Nym."

"Wait a minute!" Draco pointed at her. "You were on the train too! You said Harry never introduced himself to you!"

"I know! It's so rude! I mean, I pretty much raised the boy and he's never once given me so much as a 'pleased to meet you!'"

Draco held up a finger, paused, opened his mouth, paused again, shut his mouth, and turned back to Harry. "As I was saying, your ignorance is unsurprising-especially in light of your apparent mentor. So I'm willing to forgive this one slight, and extend my offer of guidance to you once again."

"You mean you want to keep me from associating with the 'wrong sort'."

"Yes," the blonde replied, a faint note of surprise in his voice implying he hadn't thought such a thing had to be clarified.

"And... what exactly is the wrong sort?"

"The kind that would drag you down," Draco explained, with frustrated patience. "You know, werewolves, squibs, worthless people like that."

"Right... Okay. Hey sis?"

"Yeah Harry?"

"You done with those equations?"

"Just... about... there."

"Mind if I show them to Draco here?"

Ruby quirked a brow, but handed the parchment over to him. Harry looked over the numbers, nodded, and turned it around. "Draco, do you understand any of this?"

Draco looked at the near-arcane combination of symbols and numerals. "...Is that arithmancy?"

"Is it?"

"Arithmancy is a third year elective. I mean, I know enough to keep track of money, but-"

"Mmmhmm." Harry turned to Hermione, showing her the parchment. "How about you? Do you understand this?"

Hermione grabbed it, read it over, read it again, read it a third time. "...Oh my god, she actually wrote it all out."

"~Told you,~" Ruby singsonged.

"I mean I-I'm going to have to get a physics textbook to recheck some of this, I don't think I've encountered some of these equations, but-oh my god." Hermione looked from parchment to woman. "Who even are you?!"

"So," Harry said calmly, "this girl understands some of those numbers, and knows how to find out about the rest. Good knowledge base, ability to research, and trust me on this, those numbers lead to some pretty impressive skills. Now, I might be a little biased, having been raised by the woman who just wrote them out, but comparing that to somebody who just knows 'enough to get by'... Of course," he admitted brightly, "there's more to this world then math. I feel that everybody has a bit of worth."

Draco sneered. "So you're rejecting my offer."

"Mmm. Yeah. Sorry."

"You'll regret this, Potter!" the blonde boy declared, whirling around and storming off. "You'll learn your place, I will make sure of it!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "There goes a right ponce..."

"You might want to be careful," warned the teenage girl. "The Malfoys do have a lot of influence to throw around."

Harry shrugged. "Well, if they really want to waste time on one eleven-year-old I'll be very surprised. Do you mind if I eat here, by the way? It's just me and Ruby still need to do our warmup and it would be quicker if we got breakfast together..."

* * *

Their breakfast was both quick and filling-that, at least, could be accredited to the fine cooking of the kitchens. Ruby had helpfully introduced the teenager as Nymphadora "Don't-Call-Me-Nymphadora" Tonks, her roommate; Ron and Hermione had helpfully agreed to take their schedules out to them once they came round; and shortly thereafter Harry was out on the courtyard, pulling some basic stretches while Ruby looked their newcomer up and down carefully.

"Well, you do seem fit," she mused. "Better then average, I'd label you a seven out of ten... This is your last year, is it?"

Nymphadora rolled her eyes. "Nooooo, I snuck into the seventh year dorms so I could crib notes off their N.E.W.T.s. Of course it's my last year!"

"Why would newts take notes?" Harry asked.

"No, not that kind of newt. Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. They're advanced courses, you get them in seventh year-if you do well enough on your Ordinary Wizarding Levels in fifth, I mean."

Ruby frowned. "You aren't actually cribbing notes off of people, are you?"

"Of course not. I'm going to be an Auror, which means I need at least five N.E.W.T.s, which means I actually want to be able to pass so that when I get on the job I know what I'm doing."

"Alright, alright!" The woman held up a hand. "I'm still new to this whole magic thing, Nym, I didn't mean to imply you were being irresponsible."

"You wouldn't be the first," Nymphadora grumbled. "Honestly, Blair rambles on and on about how I should try to be 'respectable.' I care more about getting things done then what others think of me. Speaking of," she added, nodding toward Harry, "should I be doing all that?"

"In a bit. Right now I want to know what you want to know, so that I can know how to make sure you know what you need to know. You know?"

Nymphadora blinked, taking a couple of seconds to process what was just said. "I... yes. You can fall six stories without injuring yourself. I mean, there are ways to do that with magic, but you didn't know that, and if I ever get caught without a wand-"

"Best to be prepared. I can get behind that." Ruby cleared her throat. "There are many kinds of landing strategy, but they all center around one core principle: It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end."

"What... exactly do you mean by that?"

Ruby patted her cheek gently. "Oh don't worry, I can teach you the same way I taught Harry."

Nymphadora batted her hand away. "Look, I get you're kind of motherly cause you're raising a kid and all, but I'm older. Don't pat me on the cheek like that."

"Okay." Ruby slapped her.

"AUGH!" Nymphadora rubbed her cheek. "What the bloody hell was that for?!"

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked innocently.

"You slapped me!"

"No, that was a high-intensity cheek-pat. You clearly didn't like the low-intensity version."

"That was a slap! It's not like patting a cheek at all!"

"Isn't it? I brought the palm of my hand in contact with your face. It's the exact same thing."

"No it isn't, slaps hurt!"

_"Exactly."_

Nymphadora blinked. "What?"

Ruby sighed. "What did I just say the core principle of landing strategies is?"

"It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden... stop..." Nymphadora groaned. "That was an object lesson, wasn't it."

"You got it in one go," Harry commented. "Took me three tries to understand."

"Being fair, you were six." Ruby nodded. "See, it doesn't matter how fast you're falling. What matters is how fast you stop falling. I mean, you ride the Hogwarts Express, right?"

Nymphadora shrugged. "Yeah."

"But you wouldn't want to get in front of it."

"Of course not, that would be crazy."

"But you don't mind being inside of it."

"Well, yeah, it's..." Nymphadora blinked. "Right. High speed-"

"Not high _speed_ ," Ruby corrected. "High acceleration. The speed of changing speed."

She pulled out Crescent Rose, unfolding the weapon in front of the startled witch. "When I hook onto something with my baby girl, it lets me control the direction of my motion-and, when I swing around, I bleed off excess speed before I hit the ground... or a wall, as the case may be. That's a pretty advanced landing technique, I'm thinking we'd start you off with rolling-letting the ground absorb your excess energy. But either way, you need to know how to control your momentum-how to gain it, how to lose it, and how to direct it. That, Nym, is the purpose of a proper landing strategy."

"Cause there's only so much damage a person can take, right?"

"Only so much they can take at one time. Getting to a place where you can heal is also pretty important." Ruby shrugged. "Come on, Harry's almost done with his stretches. I'll run you through yours, and then... we can get to the real work."


	8. The Worst Professors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have not learned how to brew potions or how to battle Grimm.

Harry Potter, it must be said, had led an interesting life. When one was adopted and home-schooled by a woman from another world, that was practically guaranteed-especially if that woman took you along on journeys to foreign lands. True, Ruby had drilled it into his head that he HAD to stay in their hotel room/apartment/local caregiver's place whenever she left for work, but she made sure to send him a letter once a week while she was away, and whenever she did get off a job she'd spend the next month wandering around the region with him, enjoying the sights and local cuisine, and trying to hide the fact that she was looking for something, anything, that would hint a way back to Remnant.

He could still remember how silent she'd gotten when he asked what she was searching for. He could still remember how she had stared at her own hands. He had been five and a half... she'd just turned twenty just that day.

That had been a long conversation, filled with tears and hugs.

The point was, Harry had been through a lot in his life, which meant he had a bit of a strange perspective on new experiences. Of course he liked novelty-novelty was what made all the new places so exciting, after all. Yet at the same time he was sort of accustomed to it. Accustomed to novelty, a difficult concept to explain-not bored by it, certainly, but at the same time not amazed by it. It was more like he was able to accurately predict how amazed he was going to be, to figure out the exact level of wonder that would be socially acceptable.

Discovering he was a wizard, knowing magic existed, that was super incredible. He'd allowed himself to indulge in some blatant staring in Diagon Alley, and pored over his new textbooks with a vigor. However, now that school had officially started, he felt it would be more appropriate to restrain himself a bit more; yes, it was still magic and amazing, but it was also magic being taught to eleven-year-olds who, for the most part, probably couldn't handle the responsibility of laundry, let alone spellcrafting. So, heading into Defense Against The Dark Arts, he'd prepared for the professor to be maybe a little coddling, maybe a little boisterous, but serious and purposefully limiting the stuff that the class learned to basic practicality.

He had not prepared for half an hour of a man lecturing in what could best be described as a droning stutter on his own encounters with darkness.

"...and the v-v-vampire looked me in the e-e-eye and said, 'P-p-pray I never find you.'" Professor Quirrel swallowed. "A-a-and that is why I have m-m-made my turban smell the way it does. Now then, class, w-w-what did you learn from all of that?"

Harry screwed his eyes shut, rubbing at his aching forehead. "Try not to tick off vampires?" he muttered.

"W-w-what was that, mister P-p-potter?"

"Oh, um..." Harry sat up straight. "It's not smart to attract the attention of dark creatures."

"What, really?" One of the girls in the classroom gave him a look. "We're Gryffindors! Why should we be scared of some bloodsucker?"

"Okay, rephrase: It's not smart to attract the attention of dark creatures _unprepared_."

"Or at all," Hermione pointed out. "Dark magic is naturally harmful, and dark creatures are universally either practitioners or the results of dark arts."

"Which is all the more reason we should be on the front lines!" the other girl insisted.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm all for professional management of the dark arts, but here's the thing: I'm eleven. You're eleven. Hermione is eleven. We are _kids_ -with awesome magical power, sure, but power we don't know how to use, hence why we're in school. By our very nature, we are unprepared to face dark magic, so right now what we need to do is learn how to spot it and how to get to the people that are. You want to fight evil? You'd better learn what evil is first."

Hermione nodded firmly. "Thank you, Harry."

The other girl opened her mouth, only to be interrupted by the clearing throat of the professor. She sunk into her seat grumpily.

"Mister P-p-potter brings up a very good p-p-point." Professor Quirrel strode to the board. "The D-d-dark arts are dangerous, seductive, and can ensnare even the m-m-most powerful of wizards. They range from weak jinxes to great c-c-curses, from small pranks to d-d-deadly enchantments, from household p-p-pests to deadly spirits. Even D-d-dumbledore has performed some dark magics."

Harry's eyebrows rose at that, before falling immediately as another lance of pain lashed from his forehead. He seriously considered going to the medical wing after class and asking for an asprin... maybe he was just having some sort of reaction to whatever Quirrel had doused his turban in.

"Most of you will never b-b-be set up against the darkest of magics. Many of you might not b-b-be hit by a single jinx in your life. B-b-but there's always a chance, a chance that a d-d-dark wizard or witch could rise from somebody in this very room!" Professor Quirrel banged his hand against his desk, almost loosing his footing, but managing to regain it at the last second. "So. F-f-for the rest of the class, I want you all to r-r-read your textbooks and w-w-write eight inches o-o-on how to recognize hostile intent, d-d-due at the end of class."

A few of the students groaned, but Harry just shrugged. Ruby had been very good at noticing that sort of thing and, among her less official lessons, she'd passed on the talent to do that to him. It'd be a good distraction from the dull pain in his skull anyway.

* * *

When it came to potions, Harry had expected a much slower sort of excitement. He was used to cooking, and he knew the quiet pride of eating a meal one prepared on their own-with Ruby semi-constantly on assignment the kitchen had to be quickly mastered. Potions of healing and flight and invisibility or whatever certainly sounded pretty neat, but preparing them would be an exercise in patience, if his textbook was anything to go by. So he'd been ready for the class to start slow, and maybe-maybe-get an incredible potion at the end of it.

"Ah yes, Harry Potter. Our new... _celebrity_."

Oh, right, he was famous. And judging from the pointed looks of the Slytherin half of the class that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Well, crud, he'd hoped he could relax...

Professor Snape finished his roll call and looked down his hooked nose at the students. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began, his voice low and still. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses..." His dark eyes roved across the now entranced first years. "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death... If you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Harry kept himself from speaking, even breathing. There were a number of ways he could respond to that, but something about Snape's tone suggested that his usual snarky self would probably induce a bad reaction. Hopefully, he could get on with the lesson without causing any-

"Potter!" Snape suddenly decreed.. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry winced. "Am I allowed to check my textbook, sir? Because I think it's either the draught of living death or the wiggenweld potion, but I don't want to brew it without being absolutely sure-"

The professor snorted. "At least you admit your ignorance... Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"Goat's stomach." Harry nodded confidently. "Or, more realistically, a potions cabinet-I mean, smart potioneers would keep universal antidotes close, right?"

"Hmmm." The professor's face was unreadable. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry considered the question, glancing at Hermione-his partner's hand had been held up throughout the questioning session. Monkshood and wolfsbane, monkshood and wolfsbane...

"...I'm sorry, professor, I don't know that one. But, um, that's why I'm here, to learn, right?"

Snape's lips were tight. "For your information, Potter, monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." He quirked an eyebrow at the rest of the class. "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

The sound of quills on parchment suddenly reverberated through the dungeon. The professor gave Harry one last glare, before striding through the tables. "You will be brewing a cure for boils for your first lesson. It is not a glamorous concoction, but it utilizes most of the basic aspects of potion-making. When you are done, I will be examining your handiwork and determining exactly what flaws I will need to correct."

Harry let out a slow breath, putting on his dragon-hide gloves. "Right... that was intense."

"A little bit, yes." Hermione flipped her book to the right page. "But I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Oh, no, I agree. Chemistry's bad enough without magic, add the wrong things together and you get poison gas."

"Or explosions." Hermione frowned as she glanced at the book, gently plucking snake fangs from the sack on their table's corner. "Then again, with your sister, I guess you're used to explosions."

"Well, directed ones anyway-what are you doing?" he hissed, grabbing her arm.

"The book says to crush the snake fangs-"

"Rule two of cooking, make sure you have all your ingredients before you start. What else do we need?"

Hermione blinked, looking at the page. "Um... four horned slugs and two porcupine quills, but that's only after we dissolve the fangs. What's rule one?"

"Understand the recipe." Harry carefully put two quills on one side of the desk, and slid the slugs out onto the other. "Are you following through step by step?"

"Yes?"

"No, you read the whole thing before you start."

Hermione huffed. "And you're an expert?"

"I'm smart enough to know that what I don't know can be dangerous. That's why I'm wearing gloves." He glanced over his shoulder at Snape. "I'm pretty sure this is a learn-from-experience kind of course, and I'd rather my mistakes end in lost grades then lost fingers."

"...Harry Potter, has anybody ever told you you're paranoid?"

"Not once, actually."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, that actually explains a lot."

* * *

Rubeus Hagrid inviting Harry for tea that friday was... not something he had really expected. Especially since the invitation came via Weiss dropping a letter in front of him at breakfast and then spending the next ten minutes demanding praise from him, Hermione, the Weasley twins, and essentially anyone at the Gryffindor table. He had allowed it for a bit-it was the first letter she had ever delivered-but eventually he had to get the bird to head back to the owlery. Harry had just enough time to talk with Ruby before he headed to classes for the day, and they'd decided to meet up after class.

What he had not expected was for Ruby to bring along a couple guests of her own.

Harry schooled his expression into sad terror. "Mommy, are you adopting more kids? Am I not good enough anymore?"

Ruby laughed and ruffled his hair. "No, no, these two rascals tried to steal my shoes and now I'm taking them to the cops."

"They were very nice shoes," Nym quipped with a grin. "Totally worth it."

Ron gave her a confused look. "I didn't steal any shoes."

Harry chuckled. "It's a bit of a joke between me and Ruby. Come on, Hagrid's waiting for us, I guess."

It didn't take long for the four of them to reach the wooden hut down the hill. Harry knocked on the door, leaning back at the loud barking that resulted.

"Pipe down, you ruddy dog!" The door was opened by the enormous bearded man, only just holding back a large hound. "Don't mind Fang, now, he's a mite protective of me, but really he's a bloody coward. Now then-!"

He looked at the group and blinked.

"Er... well, I weren't expecting this many guests. Good to see yer again, miss Rose."

"Just call me Ruby, Rubeus." She shrugged. "You don't mind a paranoid mother making sure her son isn't in danger, do you?"

"Uh, well... he's not in any danger here, I can promise yeh that." He cleared his throat. "And, uh, what about you two?"

"Free tea," Nym explained bluntly.

"Free tea," Ron agreed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh how very british."

"I was always more of a coffee girl," Ruby mused.

Nym gasped. "Blasphemy!"

"Well, I guess you lot had better come in." Rubeus stood aside, ushering the four of them in. "I've got rock cakes and the kettle's just about done-"

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby rushed in, grabbing the face of the huge hound in the corner. "Hello, you adorable little thing! Rubeus, where'd you get this guy?"

"Fang's family's been helpin' out at Hogwarts ever since there's been a Keeper of the Keys," the large man explained with a grin. "Bit o' a tradition, really. It's not one of our official duties, but if yeh saw a groundskeeper without their dog, it'd be a very bad sign."

Nym nodded as she sat down. "Yeah, I remember my fifth year. Everybody in Hufflepuff was so worried when they heard Ivory passed on-" She winced, giving the gamekeeper a sympathetic look. "You're not... still torn up about that, are you?"

"Not... it hurts a bit, yea, but I've made my peace wit' it. She's not the first hound to go." Rubeus nodded toward Fang. "Besides, her pup's comin' along well."

Ruby gave Fang a few more scratches behind the ear, taking her own seat on a convenient barrel. "Well, I'm sure he's a very good boy."

"That he is." The man glanced at the fireplace and reached in, grabbing the kettle and gathering a couple cups off the shelves. "So, Harry. How's Hogwarts treatin' ye?"

"It's mostly been good," the boy replied, accepting a cup from the man. "A little confusing with all the crazy stairs, but the classes are mostly okay. I think Quirrel's class has too much incense, I get a headache whenever I go in there. Doesn't help that sis already taught me a lot of what I'm supposed to be learning."

"Mmm, his lessons do seem kind of basic," Ruby agreed. "I mean, to be fair, we're talking about the class aimed at eleven-year-olds, and most of it seems to be stuff like danger identification and avoidance, which... yeah, I can see why they wouldn't expect kids to know that stuff when they hit the classroom."

"Fair point, I've got an unfair advantage there. Of course it's not nearly as bad as potions."

Nym sighed. "Let me guess; professor Snape?"

"Got it in one." Harry sipped his tea. "He started with this whole schpiel on how potions are great but we're all probably too stupid to understand that, then he tried to interrogate me on the subject in some unfair pop quiz, and then he started docking house points. Lost one for my 'cheek,' whatever that means, and another for failing to warn somebody _who was not my partner_ to remove their cauldron from the fire before adding the quills, by the end of the class we lost seven house points-even though I obeyed all the rules and we made a perfect potion!" He sighed. "I don't know what was going through his head."

"Snape's head of Slytherin house, mate," Ron pointed out.

" _Professor_ Snape," corrected Rubeus from his corner of the hut.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Harry asked. "Do slytherins just hate gryffindors?"

Ron nodded. "Pretty much, yeah. In our class he was still a git, but a fair one."

"I really should talk to him about his teaching style," Ruby mused. "I think he's one of those people who knows stuff but doesn't know how to teach the stuff he knows."

"What," Ron asked, "like professor Binns?"

Nym groaned. "Oh good lord, BINNS. Snape I hate as a person, but he's at least doing his job. Binns... I'm telling you he is the one reason we have so few History of Magic N.E.W.T. students."

Rubeus let out a breath of his own. "He's not exactly the best at his job, no."

"Second worst history professor I've ever had," Harry agreed.

Ruby quirked an eyebrow. " _Second_ worst? What do you mean by that?"

"Sis, you once told me the American Revolution started with the invention of the steam engine in nineteen twenty."

Nym choked on her tea for couple of seconds, her hair turning a wavy green and purple. _"WHAT?!"_

"History's not my strong suit!" Ruby protested, poking her index fingers together. "An-an-and besides, you passed all the tests that came with the homeschooling curriculum, right?"

"Yes," agreed the boy, "because I studied the stuff myself!"

"Well, there, see? I taught you how to properly research things!"

"How could you get things that _wrong?!"_ Nym all but shouted. "I mean-that's like, there are like, centuries between those events!"

"It's, uh, it's... so these rock cakes look tasty!" Ruby grabbed one and jammed it into her mouth. "Mmm thish ish delishush yom shoa try shum!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, sis, lighten up. That was years ago, I was joking. And besides, I'm sure you're doing great at this magic stuff. I mean you haven't blown up a classroom yet, right?"

Ruby swallowed, wiping off her lips. "Um... not _blown up_ , no..."

"...oh no." Harry turned to Ron. "What did she do this time?"

Ron sat back with a small smirk. "It was an ordinary Charms class," he began ostentatiously, "or so we all thought. Professor Flitwick had just started teaching us the levitation charm..."


	9. Arcane Teachings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have not learned how to turn matchsticks into needles or forge weapons that are also guns.

"Miss Rose, do you understand exactly why I asked you to stay behind after class?"

Ruby took a breath and let it out slowly. "I can hazard a guess..."

Filius Flitwick had no business looking as intimidating as he did. The top of his head would barely come up to her waist, and she knew from the past hour he was a warm-hearted, easy-going sort of man who ruled his classroom with cheery words and a sense of laughter. Now, however, his expression was stoic; not a bristle on his mustache quivered as he met her gaze, tapping the quill in his hand rhythmically against a piece of parchment.

"Your situation is quite unusual, miss Rose. A very, very late enrollment, combined with the legalities that Gringotts is having you handle, and the significant stress of being a parent on top of that. I took all that into consideration when you walked through that door, and I thought it would be one of the _younger_ students that caused an incident."

Ruby winced, her index fingers nervously pressing together. "Would it help if I said I didn't know how I did that?"

Professor Flitwick rose an eyebrow. "Accidental magic is well known in the wizarding community, yes. But on this scale..."

"Well, mister Ollivander did say I had a long time without channeling, and something about a dangerous build-up-"

"No, that wouldn't cause this. Releasing a buildup would only make a spell _stronger_ , not... hmm." The professor glanced at the clock. "You know, we have time. I'm going to teach you an easy but useful charm."

Ruby blinked. "What? I mean, sure, but why?"

"It's a light-making charm." The professor spun his wand. " _Lumos_. See, a simple twirl, a single word, and there you are."

"...alright..." Ruby glanced warily at the stick in her hand, giving it a gentle twirl. _"Lumos."_

The light on the end of Flitwick's wand was a simple glowing point, about as big as a marble. On Ruby's wand, however, the light seemed to... curl, as if it were a ball rolling along a long track.

"Ah, very interesting..." the professor mused, watching the show. "Yes, that would explain quite a bit."

"What would explain a lot?"

Flitwick cleared his throat. "It would appear, miss Rose, that you have a very high magical potential. That is to say, you do not necessarily have more _power_ than the average witch or wizard, but you affect and are affected by magic far more easily then the norm."

Ruby looked from him, to her wand, and back to him. "So... spells will come to me easier?"

"Yes. A blessing and a curse. You might be able to conjure a shield charm far more swiftly then the norm, but a minor stinging jinx might well feel like someone stabbing a knife into you."

"That's... an interesting choice of simile."

"Well, I _was_ the dueling champion of nineteen sixty five."

Ruby blinked. "There's a dueling tournament?"

"Well, there _was_. After the fall of Gellert Grindelwald there was quite a bit of tension in the wizarding community. We wanted peace, but with everything that had happened the global wizarding community didn't quite trust each other. Formal dueling came back into vogue, the governments realized it was a decent way for people to let off steam..." Filius sighed. "Of course, then some Death Eaters started using dueling tactics from the tournaments, so the DMLE told the Ministry to shut it down."

"Oh." Ruby shook her head. "Well... darn, here I was hoping I could take Harry to some special magic event."

Filius Flitwick considered her quietly for a couple of moments.

"...Miss Rose, you are a very curious woman."

"Oh, believe me, you have no idea." Ruby cleared her throat. "So, not that I mind having my own magical flashlight, but..."

"Ah. Yes, the light-banishing charm." Fillus waved his wand. _"Nox."_

 _"Nox."_ And just like that, Ruby's own wand went out. "Well, I can see how that would be useful."

"Yes, quite a bit. Now, miss Rose, because of your high magical potential I think you should take a few extra precautions." The professor cleared his throat. "Firstly, make sure to STOP casting a spell once you're done with it. We don't want a repeat of this incident."

Ruby flinched. "Yeah, that would be bad."

"Secondly, I would suggest you absolutely understand the exact wand movements behind anything you cast. The little story about Baruffio is mostly anecdotal, but it _is_ possible to accidentally cast the wrong spell."

"Got it."

"And thirdly, I would suggest you hurry along. You don't want to be late for your next class."

Ruby smirked. "Don't worry professor, I'm quite light on my feet." In a flurry of rose petals, she was gone.

Fillius blinked. He looked around the room, taking in the small shattered stones in the wall, the cracked pinprick in the window, and the desks embedded in the ceiling.

"A very curious woman indeed..."

* * *

"...and auntie Amelia told me that it's not unheard of, but it is incredibly rare. Especially for somebody so old. She's having somebody from the Registry look into it."

"But Susan, what exactly are they expecting to find?"

"Records of her travels, maybe a birth certificate... paperwork stuff, Ron. She might even be coming here to talk to Dumbledore, he was headmaster back then-"

A flurry of roses suddenly jumped into the room, colascing into Ruby Rose. "Sorry about that, professor Flitwick wanted to have a talk. I'm not late, am I?"

"Transfiguration doesn't start for another four minutes," Ron replied casually. "Oh, Ruby! This is Susan Bones, her aunt's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Ruby held out her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Susan!"

The girl blinked, fiddling with her plaited hair as she accepted the hand. "It's... nice to meet you too?"

"We were just talking about you-"

"RON!" Susan shot him a glare.

"What?" The boy gave her a confused look. "We were! I told you how she missed her Hogwarts letter, you said your aunt found that right odd-"

Susan released Ruby's hand and started batting at his face with a furious blush. "Shutupshutupshutup!"

Ruby giggled. "Well, she's certainly right. My whole situation is very weird. I hope your aunt turns something up."

"Wait..." Susan turned to her in shock. "Really?"

"Yeah, I've been... let's just say I have a few questions I've been looking into myself for some time. Maybe she'll find something useful." Ruby shrugged, glancing around the classroom. "So, professor McGonagall is the transfiguration teacher, right?"

"Tha'th righ-Huthan ge you han off my fathe."

"Wha-oh!" Susan retracted her hand from Ron. "Sorry. I, uh, I kind of forget that... I mean-I got distracted and..." She cleared her throat. "So, yes, professor McGonagall seems to be running late. A bit strange, being late to a class you teach..."

"She is head of Gryffindor house," a stout blonde boy pointed out. "Probably caught up dealing with some Weasley nonsense-er, no offense Ron."

Ron shrugged. "Mom has a hard enough time keeping up with the twins at home. Tracking them _and_ a whole house's worth of students? I don't envy her one bit."

Ruby glanced toward the front of the classroom. "That makes sense-oh hello again!" She sprung to the head desk, leaning over with a small grin and scratching the ears of the silver tabby lounging on it.

The other students stared. Susan was the first one to clear her throat. "Um... that cat's been there this whole time, miss Rose."

"Oh please, call me Ruby. I'm only miss Rose when I need to be." She started petting the cat's cheek. "You're McGonagall's pet, aren't you? I guess you're here to help keep her company through the day, huh? Heh, you've even got little eyeglasses in your fur like she does!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "What is it about girls and cats?"

"They're ambush predators who happen to be adorable," Ruby replied casually, tickling the cat under the chin. "Who's a cute little slaughtermeister? You are, yes you are!"

Susan fiddled with her hair. "Miss-er, Ruby? Maybe you should, uh... stop playing with McGonagall's pet, she might not appreciate it."

Ruby sighed, giving the feline one last pet. "I guess I'll talk to her about it when she gets here." She turned around, glancing at the clock. "Where is she, anyway? Class should be starting in a few seconds. I mean, I know Hogwarts is a big everchanging stone maze, but I would have assumed that a professor had enough experience navigating their own school that they'd be able to get where they needed to very..."

She paused, noticing the astonished and, in some cases, slightly frightened looks the children pointed over her shoulder.

"...she's standing right behind me, isn't she?"

"Indeed I am," said professor McGonagall.

Ruby spun around. "I didn't even see you come in! How did you-?"

"Miss Rose, I am the _transfiguration_ professor. The branch of magic dealing with the transformation of one object into another. I am well versed in all its applications, including the abilities of an animagus."

"...which means...?"

"An animagus is a wizard or witch with the ability to change into an animal at will." McGonagall lowered her eyeglasses. "Such as, for example, a cat."

The class was, for a moment or two, completely and utterly silent, as every last child focused on the two women.

"...I apologize for nothing, your feline form is adorable."

It would later become a topic of hot debate as to whether Susan Bones or Ronald Weasley was the first one to bring their hand to their face.

"Noted. And the feminine form is slaughtermeisterin, incidentally." The professor gave Ruby a stern look. "Take your seat, miss Rose."

* * *

"...but despite the bad beginning, Ruby actually turned out to be the best at Transfiguration. Well, the best of us in class anyway." Ron finished his rock cake. "I mean professor McGonagall didn't show off her needle like she did with Ernie's, but hers definitely looked better then his."

Ruby shrugged. "I don't mind, really. I'm older then the rest of the first years by a long ways, it would be wrong to give kids the impression that they had to live up to my standards when they're just starting."

Nym chuckled. "Yeah, I was completely different. Metamorphmagi are incredibly rare, and we're supposed to be talented at transfiguration so I decided that I wouldn't turn my matchstick into a silver needle-no, I would make a whole silver sword!" She shook her head. "Ended up getting silver splinters into everybody-Madam Pomfrey and professor McGonagall really tore into me for that one, and Blair wouldn't talk to me for a week. After that, I stuck to the lesson plan."

Ron winced. "Glad Ruby didn't do something like that. What with Crescent Rose and all."

"Actually, I think Crescent Rose might be the reason I'm so good with that sort of magic?" Ruby mused. "I mean, I did design her myself. Every little gear. And I've kept her working all these years, so I know how to focus on little complexities-"

"Wait wait wait." Harry held up a hand. "I just realized something. You say McGonagall can turn into a cat?"

"Yes."

"A silver cat? With stripes?"

Ruby gave a low sigh. "Yes, Harry."

"Like that one you found and started to hug when we-"

" _Yes_ , Harry, it's the same cat." She looked at his toothy smile. "Yes, yes, you have a brand new story to embarrass me with. Well done. But school's only just begun-you know I'll get some dirt on you."

"Oh really? For all you know I'll become the school's golden student, rising to incredible heights and-"

"Bermuda."

Harry deflated. "Why do you always have to bring that up?"

"Now hold on," Rubeus rumbled. "What's this about Bermuda?"

"Well, you see, it was Harry's seventh birthday and-"

The group was interrupted by a knock on the door. Rubeus put his cup down, maneuvering around his guests. "Sorry 'bout that, this might be important. I'm keeper of the keys and all..." He opened the door and beamed. "Professor Dumbledore! Good ta see yeh. What brings you down here?"

"I heard that miss Rose was spotted heading this way. There's some details about her Gringotts paperwork I wish to talk with her about."

Ruby sighed and stood up. "Well, this was fun, but I guess now I have to be an adult. Nym, make sure these two rascals get back to the castle in time for their next class."

"What makes you think I'll do that?"

"One, I know the Weasley twins, two, I know where you sleep."

Nym snorted. "Alright, alright. I'll be the responsible one, _this_ time."

"Thanks a bundle! Harry, don't blow anything up!"

"I'm not you, sis!"

Ruby chuckled as she shut the door behind her, before turning to the wizard. "You know, I don't recall asking you for help on the paperwork. Are you worried that being from another world would cause me problems, or is this some attempt to get into my good graces?"

"I daresay it's a bit of both." Dumbledore gestured and started walking toward the castle. "There's also the matter of your occlumency lessons."

"Ah." Ruby fell into step beside him. "That is something important, yes. You found a teacher?"

"You must understand, occlumency is a particularly rare skill; not only is it difficult to learn, it's difficult to justify learning. Most legal forms of mental intrusion are either benign, such as the cheering charm, or used in extreme criminal cases, such as Veritaserum. To many wizards and witches, stating you wish to learn to hide your thoughts means that you have something significant you wish to hide."

"You're doing this thing where instead of answering my question, you go off on a long and rambling explanation and expect me to come to a conclusion. I did homeschool Harry, I know the trick."

The headmaster smiled faintly. "Indeed? Well then. My point is that very few occlumens are strictly... legal. Of those I know of, most are either outside my ability to contact or not the sort I would allow in a school of children. However, there are two occulmens already employed by Hogwarts."

Ruby frowned. "Let me guess: One is you, and the other is the Arithmancy teacher."

Dumbledore gave her an odd look. "Why would you assume the Arithmancy teacher would be an occlumens?"

"Mathmatical mindsets are more easily organized and able to adapt?"

"Hmm. An interesting insight... no, the other choice would actually be professor Snape."

Ruby frowned. "Snape... I'm going to be honest, he's bad enough teaching potions, I don't want to think about his teaching anyone mind-jiggery."

"Severus Snape has my complete trust."

"I'm... what?" Ruby shook her head. "Look, he knows his potions. And apparently his mind magic. And I'm sure that beneath that grumpy facade of hating everything you've found some noble soul or whatever. All I'm saying is that he is a bad _teacher_ , that he's not really capable of passing on knowledge to his students."

Dumbledore waved his hand. "Severus's personality is an unfortunate artifact of his past, but he does grade very fairly despite his high standards and, alas, the only willing alternative for head of Slytherin House is a quite deplorable woman whose teachings would be rather worse then his."

"Well... hmm." The woman brought her hands together, contemplating for a moment. "Still, I think I'd prefer you teaching me, all things considered."

"I thought I was on thin ice," the professor noted with amusement.

"You left a kid on a doorstep and went into my mind without my permission, but you seemed to do that for the right reasons and you're willing to admit your mistakes. I don't think you're evil. I just think you don't think things through all the time."

Dumbledore burst out laughing. "Oh, miss Rose, if anyone heard you say _that_ about _me!_ Perhaps it is less that I don't think things through, and more that I think things through too much. But very well, I shall teach you occlumency-I'll schedule it out and send you the lesson plan tomorrow, although I must insist you say it is me helping you with your Gringotts paperwork."

"That excuse will only work for a bit," Ruby pointed out. "As soon as I'm done-"

"-we'll switch over to 'talking about skipping you up a year' as our excuse. I dare say that you might well be able to-your age allows you greater degrees of concentration then your classmates."

"I guess that's true," Ruby mused. "Alright, I'll keep the occlumency stuff quiet."

"Thank you for your discretion, it is most appreciated. By the by, how are you finding Hogwarts?"

"It's... interesting," Ruby allowed. "My dad was a teacher, and I got skipped up to higher learning pretty early, so this is just a new flavor of an old staple-although I'll admit the whole magic thing makes it a very quirky flavor."

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm sure you'll find next week very interesting."

"Really? What happens next week?"

Dumbledore beamed. "Flying lessons begin, of course."


	10. Broomstick Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never played Quidditch, though I am reverse-engineering Remnant the Board Game, which I have also never played.

Ruby Rose looked at the broomstick lying innocently atop the grass. Its wooden shaft was long and only had one or two knots marring its smoothness; a bundle of stiff yellow bristles was held tightly to one end with a few loops of short, thick rope.

"...I have some concerns," she said, very calmly.

"What?" The spiky-haired witch next to her blinked. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"You want me to place a stick between my legs and use it to fly. I'll accept that, magically, this is possible, but..." Ruby gestured at the thing. "It doesn't seem like there's... it just seems... incomplete, somehow. And uncomfortable."

"There are built in cushioning charms, miss Rose. You needn't worry about bristles in your bum."

"That's... not exactly what I was concerned about, Madam Hooch. I'm looking at this and it seems like there's no consideration for aerodynamics or multi-axis rotation-"

Madam Hooch rolled her yellow eyes. "This from the woman who fell six stories with a scythe."

"Hey, Crescent Rose is designed to endure high stress! And actually, that's a good example, I know her in and out. This thing just seems... rickety."

"Miss Rose, your opinions aside, I do need to teach a class how to fly, and I would rather you not frighten your fellow students."

Ruby blinked, glancing at the small group of preteens in robes staring awkwardly at her. "Oh. Right. Sorry about that."

"Mmm-hmm." Hooch gave her one last pointed look before turning to the rest of the class. "Now then! I think we should get started. Some of you may have flown on broomstick before but, since some of you most certainly have not, I must insist you follow my instructions exactly. Nobody kicks off until I say so, and nobody should waste my time with foolish stunts."

Her yellow eyes narrowed. "And yes, I am including miss Rose in that statement."

"No _foolish_ stunts." Ruby nodded firmly. "Got it."

Madam Hooch kept her eyes on her for a moment, before turning back to class. "The first thing you'll need to do is hold your hand over your broom and say 'up' in a firm tone."

Obediently, the children held their hand over the wooden rods, their cacophony of high pitched syllables shortly followed by their sticks rolling or hopping about. Madam Hooch started striding between them, giving small hints of advice to each student that stumbled. Ruby quirked a brow as Ron's broom nearly hit his face, before warily extending her hand over her own broomstick.

"Up."

The wood hit her hand like an overeager puppy-in fact, almost exactly like an overeager puppy. For a moment, a brief and mad moment, she fumbled with the wood, expecting it to suddenly metamorphose into a black and white corgi.

When her grip firmed, however, she was left staring at the same knotted rod she had seen at the start. The familiar feeling faded, replaced by a more relaxed sensation.

"Something wrong?"

Ron's question shook her out of her shock. "Uh... no. Maybe. I don't..." She paused. "Can I try your broomstick for a moment, I need to see something."

The boy glanced around, noting a few students still trying to get their broomsticks, and handed it over with a shrug. "I'll need it back, of course."

"Right." She let Ron's broomstick fall, then held her hand over it. "Up."

Again, that same feeling-a surge of happy service, followed by... quietness.

"...Huh. Okay." Ruby handed the broom back to Ron. "That's... weird. I think I'll be talking to Hooch after class."

"If you want me to teach you how to charm your scythe to fly," Hooch said dryly over her shoulder, "the answer is going to be no."

Ruby blinked, looking at her. "What?"

"I've heard enough horror stories about flying swords, and I'm not going to be known as the one that made that thing fly. I don't think I could stop you, mind, but you're going to have to figure it out on your own."

"That's... not exactly what I was going to talk to you about-"

"Well, whatever it is, it will have to wait till after class." Madam Hooch looked across the yard. "Alright, everyone, mount your broomsticks. I'll be coming around again to check on your grip..."

Ruby stared at the wood in her hands for a few moments, unnerved, before following the instruction.

* * *

That evening, Harry had listened with genuine interest to Ruby's considerations on the nature and methodology of broomstick flight, nodding along as she mused over the difference of control compared to her usual acrobatics and the gentle but firm way Madam Hooch had directed the class. It didn't sound quite as exciting as the stories of her time on duty, but he could not help looking forward to the next day, when his own flying lessons would begin. Indeed, there was a palpable air of anticipation all through the Gryffindor common room that morning, only further augmented by the wondrous and quite possibly fabricated stories that the older years gave of their own death-defying stunts.

"Of course," Fred (maybe George) quipped, "we'll all be watching you, Harry. What with what Ruby pulled, you've got to have a few tricks up your sleeve."

"There's an opening for Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team," George (if it wasn't Fred) added. "No pressure, really, but if you can prove yourself-"

"What's Quidditch?" Harry foolishly asked.

Eight hours later, hand wrapped around a thick rod of wood, his head was still roiling with images of witches and wizards throwing balls at each other from broomsticks and various terms he didn't quite understand. He was only shook out of it when Neville Longbottom, of all students, went rocketing into the walls of Hogwarts with a wild scream.

His eyes followed the boy's descent from broom to ground, and managed a tiny flinch at the ending. "Bad landing strategy there. Probably has a broken wrist."

Hermione looked at him aghast. "Neville lost control of his broom, and all you can say is 'bad landing strategy?'"

Harry blinked. "Well... it was? I mean, yes, it has to have been horrible for him, but do you really think Madam Hooch would let me splint his wrist?"

The teacher in question rushed over to Neville and examined him carefully. "...yes, you _do_ have a broken wrist, don't you..."

She gave Harry an odd look, much to his confusion.

"...I'll be taking mister Longbottom to the hospital wing. Nobody is to take off until I return." Madam Hooch wrapped a protective arm around Neville, gave Harry one last pointed look, and walked away.

For a few moments, the gathered first years stood around, awkwardly holding their brooms and staring at each other.

Harry cleared his throat. "So... about that sports team-"

"Oh, look!" Draco cried, plucking something from the ground with a flourish. "Longbottom's dropped his remembrall!" He held up the smoke-filled glass ball with wicked glee, looking around the gathered students for some reaction.

Harry glanced around himself. His fellow gryffindors were not amused, but how angry they were seemed to vary. The slytherins, on the other hand, seemed to range from gleeful spite to awkward unwillingness to speak up.

"...Well, yes. He did." Harry shrugged. "What's your point?"

Draco gave him an utterly condescending look, as though his point should have been immediately obvious.

"No, seriously, I don't get why this is a big thing. We just give it back to him when he gets back."

"What does a _wizard_ need with a _remembrall?"_ Draco huffed mockingly. "I think I'll do Longbottom a favor, and throw this up on the roof!" He hopped on his broom and started hovering, still displaying the globe in his hand.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that counts as stealing," Harry noted dryly. "Come on, give it back."

"Why don't you come up here and make me, Potter?" Draco spiraled lazily upward. "Or are you too scared to do anything without your big sister backing you up?"

For a moment, there was a tense silence.

Then Harry's broomstick jumped to his hand.

Hermione gasped. "Harry, no! You'll get hurt, or detention, or-"

"My landing strategy is rated for two stories," Harry reminded her, mounting his broom. "And I can handle detention."

"But-!"

Hermione's protests were cut off when Harry shot into the air, speeding toward Draco so quickly that he could see the whites of his widening eyes. The blonde boy all but reared back, flinging the glass sphere across the courtyard-Harry's eyes were already tracking it even as he swerved, leaning into the broomstick and holding one hand out. Inch above the ground, so close that the grass tickled his skin, the remembrall landed in his grasp.

He zoomed back to Draco, tossing it to his other hand. "Ha."

"MISTER POTTER!"

Harry blanched, looking down to see professor McGonagall storming across the courtyard. "Aheh. Um. Can you... not tell Ruby about this?"

The professor's eyes were stern. "I think she will want to hear exactly what happened here."

Harry swallowed.

* * *

Ruby rubbed her forehead with a sigh. "You've put me in a bit of a difficult position, professor."

"If you wish to contest my quidditch recommendation-"

"Oh, no, it's not that. Getting onto a sports team will be good for Harry. He'll have something in his social life, it can only do wonders for his physical education, and maybe he'll achieve recognition beyond being just 'the boy who lived.'" She shrugged as she walked alongside the witch. "I mean I'd have liked it if you consulted me beforehand, yes, but I do approve of this decision."

Professor McGonagall gave Ruby an odd look. "Then... what is the issue?"

"The issue is that he _did_ break the rules. I have to make sure he realizes that's wrong, while not discouraging him from this quidditch thing. Discipline and support him, at the same time."

"Ah." The witch nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that is a delicate balance. I apologize, I'm a head of house. I should have remembered that."

"I can do it, mind you-I raised the boy, that gives me a few special options." Ruby held up her hand, pausing at the entrance to the great hall. "I just want us to be clear on this: What happens next is entirely _your_ fault."

Professor McGonagall took a moment to consider that.

"...What exactly, are you going to do?"

Ruby smiled innocently. "Congratulate him, of course."

"...Aaaaaaah." The professor nodded. "My advice would be to wait until everyone is seated, then."

"Good idea." Ruby stepped aside, allowing the last few students to file in for the midday feast. "Maximum impact."

"Indeed. Good day, miss Rose."

The professor made her way to the head table briskly, managing to keep her face straight as she sat down. Ruby took a moment to look over the tables, counting the number of students eating their lunch, before confidently strolling down the great hall and turning to walk the length of the gryffindor table, her eyes fixed on a mop of dark hair.

"...still can't believe that professor McGonagall would reward such blatant rule-breaking," Hermione grumbled.

Harry shrugged. "I guess being talented has its perks."

Ruby stepped behind him, took a long, slow breath...

...and then enveloped Harry in a crushing hug. "Oh, my little bro is all grown up and competing in school sports already!"

 _"Agh what sis-?!"_ The poor boy tried to flail his arms, pinned as they were beneath Ruby's sleeves.

"Oh my gosh I don't know if I could possibly be prouder of you!" Somehow she managed to squeeze Harry even more, producing a desperate squeak. "I remember when you used to run around in your diapers and try to catch the matron's feet at the orphanage, but look at you now!"

Hermione leaned away from the pair, her eyes darting between them nervously as Harry's face started to shift to gryffindor red. "Um..."

"Chasing matrons in his nappys?" one of the Weasley twins asked, leaning in.

"Yeah, he was a real terror when he started walking." Ruby released the boy, allowing him to gasp in a breath of air as she mussed up his hair with aggressive affection.

"You wouldn't happen to have pictures?" the other Weasley twin inquired.

"No, I left my photo album in the Hufflepuff dorm, sad to say. It really is a shame-I have a lot of pictures of our days at the orphanage. You would not believe what I had to go through to get him where he is today!"

Ruby smiled, gently gripping Harry's head and bringing it face to face with her. "And we're going to have a lot more training to do, your landing strategy isn't rated for quidditch yet!"

"It can't be that bad-"

"The hoops are thirty to fifty feet off the ground. Add in a good ten feet for stunts, and that's sixty feet at the most." Ruby shook her head. "Nope, you're getting schooled hard at our next training session. Ooooo, I can't wait! I think I'll break out the padded suit again!"

Harry paled. "Uh, I think we can practice without-"

"NONSENSE!" Ruby proclaimed cheerfully, releasing Harry's skull. "You'll be wearing the whole thing every morning until I think you're ready! Safety first, after all!"

"What's this padded suit like?" Hermione asked. Harry shot her a betrayed look.

"I made it myself! Sure, the torso piece is a little bulky, and the arm and leg guards look like marshmallows, and the undersuit might seem to be plastic tubing, and maybe painting a smiley face on the helmet was a bit of an impulse-"

Harry jammed a cookie into her mouth. "SO. ANYWAY. It's really not that important. I mean, it's not like she's training anybody else... except Nym..."

Ruby swallowed and smiled. "Oh, no, I mean I can't teach everyone. But that doesn't mean that people can't come and watch me train you! I'm sure you'd love to show off the suit to the _entire student body!_ "

Her smile grew sly. "After all, being talented... Has. Its. Perks. Doesn't it, Harry?"

Harry cringed.

The Weasley twins stood up and applauded.

"BRAVO!"

"BRAVISSIMO!"

"ENCORE, ENCORE!"

"AUTHOR! AUTHOR!"

They started conjuring up roses and tossing them at Ruby, who caught them and bowed with a flourish of her cape. She gave Harry one final headpat with a giggle and skipped off toward the Hufflepuff table.

Hermione blinked. "Er... what just happened?"

Harry sunk into himself. "I just got ripped into for breaking rules, that's what happened..."


	11. Reliving the Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never induced an aura activation or learned the fine art of Occulumensy. Please do not take advantage of these facts.

_"Are you... robbing me?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Aaaaah."_

_Ruby Rose looked the strange man up and down, taking in his overdesigned firearm and red burn blade. Intimidating, surely, and probably enough to scare the average citizen, but from his stance the well-dressed thug wasn't prepared for anything more than a weak fist. If anything, he seemed annoyed that he was handling a young girl, something she was very familiar with..._

_...for some reason...?_

_She shrugged, subtly shifting her feet-and suddenly swung her sweetheart out from behind her back, clubbing the surprised man hard enough to send him smack-dab into the front wall. It was but the work of seconds to get Crescent Rose into a proper firing grip, but that was just enough time for another thug to appear and point his gun at her. More than one? Were any better equipped? She needed more info-and she couldn't get that at the back of the shop._

_Ruby lunged forward, faster than the new thug was prepared for, and smashed him through the glass. As he rolled to a stop, she spun around, setting Crescent Rose to extend-and two, three other thugs cautiously looked out the window. Identical dress, identical weapons, and confusion... maybe a bit of intimidation would send them running. She gave Crescent Rose a few twirls as she unfolded, jamming the blade into a street with a grin._

_Belatedly, she realized her music was still playing and turned off her headphones._

_The two old men behind the counter were staring at her. The bald one with the apron had an expression of both shock and relief. The one stroking his thick beard and wearing an outlandish set of robes was giving her a very considering look. The ginger in the hat, however, looked at her with some frustration. "Okaaaaay... Get her!"_

_That shook the thugs out of their stupor, and they rushed out the front door at her... and with their weapons not even in proper firing position. With a scoff she twirled on her sweetheart's handle, delivering a double kick to one face and firing to smack another away with the butt of her blade. Her rubber soles hit the ground and her sweetheart completed her arc, smashing another into the ground. The final thug had managed to pull his gun out and was doing something moderately intelligent, attempting to land a shot on her, but the recoil from Crescent Rose zigged and zagged her out of his path until she was close enough to smack him into the air; with a final twirl she sent him rolling to the feet of the well dressed ginger, who was now standing on the curb._

_"You were worth every cent," he said dryly. "Truly you were."_

_"My," said the bearded old man behind him, "you really were a violent child, weren't you?"_

_Before Ruby could process that, the ginger dropped his cigar and smashed it with his cane. "Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." He pointed his cane at her, the tip flipping up to reveal a crosshair, and fired-_

_"Wait, hold on, I remember this!"_

Ruby shook her head, blinking for a few seconds. "Wow. That... It was like... I was back there. I didn't even realize, right up till Torchwick pointed his cane at me..."

"That might be a problem, miss Rose." Across the room, Dumbledore lowered his wand. "The entire point of these exercises is to identify mental intrusion and resist it."

"To be fair this is the first real time we've done the actual mind thing, and..." Ruby shook her head. "You're right, of course. I should have been more in tune with my thoughts. Something did feel off with the familiarity but..."

She shivered. "Is that how it always is? So entrancing that you don't even know?"

"Hardly. Most legilimens seek either to gather hidden information or influence the mind through an induced hallucination." The headmaster cleared his throat. "I felt that it might be best to start off in memories you found to be comfortable, in the hopes that you would notice inconsistencies. Occlumency is an effort, after all, and therefore best applied when intrusion is detected."

"Ah." Ruby nodded. "The right amount of force in the right place. Or... thought. Force thought. Forethought?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm terribly sorry, of course, if that experience overwhelmed you. I did try to select a memory that felt mostly positive... although, I will admit, I don't know why that particular memory came up."

"Oh, that was an important day for me, it... really set my life down a new path. It was because of that encounter I got bumped up to Beacon early." She smiled faintly. "I mean, if you'd gone further, you would have seen Roman run for a roof, and I went after him and... well, it turned out he was working with somebody a bit more important. One of the Beacon teachers was ready to fight _that_ opponent, and I joined in and-"

A grin formed on her face. "Her name was Glynda Goodwitch. Isn't that funny? I got into Beacon because of a Goodwitch, and now here I am trying to be a good witch."

"Indeed?" Dumbledore returned her smile. "Well, fate is a fickle thing, with an odd sense of humor. I take it miss Goodwitch was impressed by your combat skill?"

"Well, that, and annoyed I jumped into her fight. I don't know if she would have caught the two if I weren't there..." Ruby took a breath. "But it was enough to bring me to Ozpin's attention. He's... well, he was the headmaster of Beacon Academy. Not as kooky as you, I don't think, but he was training us all to fight monsters, not learn magic." She gave a mild hum. "Crazy glasses, though. I think you two would get along. Aside from the whole, you know, babies on the porch thing. Don't think he'd do that."

"Well, hopefully I'll have the honor of receiving his advice some day."

Ruby sighed. "I've... been looking for a way back for ten years now. I'm not going to give up, but... no offense, but you're old. You might not live to see the day."

Dumbledore smirked. "You'd be surprised what I've lived to see. But I believe we are getting off topic. You noticed something 'off' before. Do you think you can find it if it happens again?"

"Well... the only way to know is to try." Ruby took a breath. "Okay. Hit me again."

The headmaster nodded, raising his wand-

 _"Great!" yelled her sister as the Mistral champion rolled up to the group. "The gang's all here! Now we can_ die _together!"_

_"Not if I can help it!"_

_"Ruby, wait!"_

_"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" With a fire in her eyes, she ran past the startled looking old man and fired Crescent Rose at the giant scorpion of shadow and bone. Something about the old guy niggled at her mind, but when she turned to look at him a massive claw hit her, sending her flying._

_Ruby pushed herself to her feet, shaking her head. "D... Don't worry!" she reassured everyone. "Totally fine!"_

_"Is fighting dark creatures normal for you?" the old man asked curiously._

_Ruby rolled her eyes as she shot at the monster. "What, you never see a Grimm before?" she quipped, running away as the creature reared after her._

_"Ruby!" her sister shouted, rushing toward her-but her path was suddenly blocked by a stream of sharpened feathers, one of which managed to pierce the red cloak and pin her to the ground. "Ruby, get out of there!"_

_"I'm trying!" Ruby cried._

_"My word," the old man mused, looking up at the giant black bird in the sky. "Is that some kind of snallygaster?"_

_"It's a Nevermore!" Ruby growled, glaring at him. "Seriously, I would know, I... killed one? Wait-"_

_"RUBY!"_

_The cry of terror caught her attention, and she whipped her gaze to her sister-the panic on her expression making her look behind her-_

_A golden stinger, encased in ice._

_"You are_ so _childish!"_

_Ruby sighed. "Not this again..."_

_"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." The white haired girl speaking pulled her sword from the ice with a sigh. "And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if_ you _quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."_

_"What an interesting young lady," the old man commented._

_"That's Weiss for you. Look, I'm not trying to show off," Ruby assured her partner, "I just want you to know I can do this."_

_The girl rolled her eyes, though a small smirk was on her face as she walked away. "You're fine."_

_"Yeess. Normal... knees." Ruby shook her head, glancing down at her hands. "This is a memory, isn't it?"_

"Yes indeed it was, miss Rose. Well done."

Ruby blinked, shaking her head. "Wow. That... that's a weird feeling. Just suddenly knowing that I already know what's going to happen."

"And it is that feeling that alerts you to the presence of others in your mind. Well, in your case at least." Dumbledore clasped his hands together. "A similar disparity might come in if somebody attempts to alter your perceptions with magic, but we can go over that later. Would it be far too rude of me to inquire as to what I just witnessed?"

Ruby shook her head. "Well, if we're turning this into reminiscing night, I guess I don't mind... why though?"

"I make it a priority to understand the personality and needs of all my students, especially the exceptional ones. And... if I am entirely honest, while I do wish to support your efforts in relocating your homeworld, I feel I must understand the risks. That... Grimm, did you call it? If I can know what that is..."

"The creatures of Grimm." Ruby shrugged. "A fact of life on Remnant. Soulless things-even animals have aura, but the Grimm are just shadows and dissolve when they die. Nobody knows where they come from, but everybody knows what they do-kill everyone in their path and tear down everything humanity has made."

Dumbledore leaned back. "My word. That does sound dangerous. And _children_ fight these things?"

"Not... children. Like I said, I got into Beacon two years early because..." She glanced away. "...well, because I showed exceptional promise."

The old wizard quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"...Most of the time, people come to the Huntsmen academies when they're seventeen. A lot of them graduate from combat school but, technically, anyone who can qualify is welcome." Ruby smirked faintly. "Still not sure how Jaune got in, to be honest, but he shaped up all right in the end."

"Jaune?"

"Jaune Arc. Leader of team JNPR-Ozpin named our teams by making a color out of initials. Jaune, Nora, Pyr..."

Ruby trailed off for a moment.

"...If I'm treading on painful memories," Dumbledore offered, "we can stop for now."

"No, it's just... I was the leader of team RWBY. Me, Weiss, Blake... Yang." She sighed. "I miss them. That's all. I'm fine, really."

"I have plenty of people I miss as well, miss Rose. One does not get to be my age without losing friends... and family."

"Yeah, but the thing is I think most of my friends are alive and just out of reach. All your lost ones are dead."

"Not all of them," Dumbledore murmured quietly.

Ruby looked up. "What?"

"...Suffice it to say that the mistakes I make, while rare, tend to be severe." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I do believe it is late, and you are intending to run young Harry through some more... landing strategy drills tomorrow?"

Ruby opened her mouth, paused, and slowly shut it. "Right. Well..." She stood up. "Goodnight, headmaster."

"I do hope you have pleasant dreams, miss Rose."

"...you know, I just might." A small smile was on her face as she stepped out the door.

Dumbledore waited until the door was shut before letting his eyes fall to his wand.

After a moment, he took a breath and put it to his head. "The creatures of Grimm, indeed..."


	12. All Hallow's Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never fought a troll, a nevermore, or masked cultists of any type.

"Happy Hallowe'en, Harry!"

"Oh. Right, happy halloween, Hermione."

Hermione tilted her head. "You don't seem very happy. Is this about your parents...?"

"Oh, I'm not unhappy. Just, travelling with Ruby means I got to see a lot of the world, and Halloween isn't... celebrated everywhere. Not _seriously_ , like here and in America; for me, it's more Ruby's birthday then it is Halloween."

"Oh, today's her birthday?" Hermione folded up her lip awkwardly. "That's... interesting."

Harry gave her a wry smile. "She grew out of the 'free candy on my birthday' phase years ago, don't worry."

"Aha... ha... no, that's not what I'm... " Hermione cleared her throat awkwardly. "No, I just... do you two have anything planned for today, or anything?"

"Well, I haven't had a chance to go shopping for her. Maybe I'll ask professor McGonagall to transfigure something... or help me transfigure something... It's not like she's expecting anything," Harry pointed out. "I mean, the first time I realized it was her birthday I was... five and a half, really, and..."

He trailed off for a moment.

"...Anyway, she's just got a few friends she'll talk to tonight," he finally managed. "Usually, if I get her anything, I give it to her tomorrow. It's a little strange, I know, but it's our strange tradition, you know?"

"How is she going to talk with her friends if she's in Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.

Harry shut his textbook firmly. "So! If it's Halloween, do the classes change up at all?"

"...There's... nothing in the schedule," Hermione replied hesitantly. "I mean, I heard a few of the older students talking about a hallowe'en feast, and there seem to be... a few pumpkins around. Why do you want to know?"

"Just making sure I know what's going on." With a shrug, Harry shelved the book and walked toward the exit. "Well, time to start the day I guess!"

"Er... sure, if you like...?" Hermione looked from him to the book. "What was that all about...?"

* * *

"...and prononciation does affect the magic due to the influence of the somatic flow through the magical field of the individual. It's an actually fascinating study of the complexity of layered systems-"

" _Yap_ , yap, _yap_ , yap, _yap_." One of the other girls glared at Hermione. "You just love the sound of your own voice, don't you?"

"...what?"

"Wave the wand, say the thing, you get flying feathers, and that's not good enough for you? There are books and books and _books_ worth of spells, and I know you know that because you eat books like candy, and you could be practicing them and being somebody worthwhile, but instead it's all 'this works so and so and this and that and blaady bla bla, look at this tree it's an amazing tree gosh _let's ignore the entire bloody forest!'_ Honestly."

Hermione curled in on herself. "I... I just thought..."

"What? That magic would have some sort of... bonus to it if you knew fancy words? Go stick your nose in a book, Granger, the rest of us are going to be busy learning how to be _real_ witches."

Hermione stared at the ground for a moment.

"Um," said Harry. "Uh... aren't you... being kind of harsh?"

"The real world doesn't care how smart you are, all that matters is what you can do. Running her mouth off isn't going to help her." The girl flipped her hair. "The sooner Granger accepts that, the sooner she can grow up."

The bushy-haired girl grabbed her books suddenly and ran down the corridor. Harry bit his lip.

"...Go on, be the hero," the other girl said flatly. "I don't know why you're crushing on her, of all people, but whatever. Maybe you can talk some sense into her, she seems to listen to you."

"Wow. Thanks, I appreciate that, really." Harry rolled his eyes, walking out of the empty classroom. "O...kay. So, if I were an upset eleven year old girl in an old castle that doubled as a magical boarding school, where would I go...?"

He considered for a moment.

"...Wandering the halls is what Ruby did, but she was fifteen. So... running... privacy... bathroom. Closest girl's bathroom would be... near the closest boy's bathroom, I think? Which is... this way!"

"Oooo, is ickle Harrikens up to no good?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Peeves, do you want me to sic Ruby on you?"

The poltergeist laughed. "Snakes without fangs aren't scary, ickle Harry!"

"Look, just do whatever it is you're going to do so I can pretend to be flustered and angry and you can wander off to prank somebody else."

Peeves blinked for a moment, then frowned. "Take the fun out of it, why don't you." He halfheartedly tossed a water balloon onto Harry's head.

"Oh. Boo. Hiss. My perfect do. What a world."

"There's always _one_ party pooper," Peeves grumbled, hovering down the corridor half-heartedly.

Harry shrugged, heading down the corridor. As soon as he came to the door marked 'Witch's Watercloset,' he knocked on it.

"Hermione? Are you in there?"

"Go. Away."

"I'll take that as a maybe. Look, about what that girl said-"

"I don't want to hear it," Hermione's voice said flatly.

"But-"

"It's going to be another stupid 'it's okay to be smart and let's ignore the bullies' speech and, and, and that has never worked!"

"...I mean, fair enough," Harry managed. "Um... uh... look. The halloween feast is starting in a bit, and... I'm going to go down and... I guess I'll save you some cookies?"

"...Biscuits, Harry. They're called biscuits here."

"Right. Just... yeah. So... see you later."

Harry turned around, heading for the great hall, and trying to figure out how to handle the nagging feeling of confusion.

* * *

"...so I thought maybe you might have some idea on what to do?"

Ruby sighed. "Honestly my first instinct is to say 'punch that girl in the face' but, since I'm supposed to be a responsible parent, I guess I have to offer a legal alternative. Your main goal, I think, should be countering the damage done. Make sure Hermione knows that what she does matters to somebody, praise her for genuine advancements in her skill... support her against her detractors?"

"So basically be a friend," Harry said flatly.

"It does solve a remarkable amount of problems," Ruby replied. "Not all of them, and not instantly, but constant understanding and encouragement can do wonders."

Ron looked between them uncomfortably. "Should... should I be here for this?"

"What, a sister giving her little brother advice? That's perfectly normal."

"I mean, it's not like I know Hermione that well," he pointed out. "We don't have any classes together."

Ruby glanced down at her plate. "...You can't help everyone, no. But... you should help anyone you can. That's why we're here after all. To make the world better."

"I guess..." Ron shrugged, biting into a sugary pastry. "Maybe if we talk about quidditch or something. She likes quidditch, right?"

Harry waggled his hand. "Eeeeeh... she's good at the numbers, I think. More of a chess girl, in my mind."

"Oh, I'm great at chess. Oh, is she muggleborn? Maybe I can introduce her to wizard's chess, she'd love-"

**"TROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL!"**

The proclaimer, one turbaned professor Quirrell, rushed into the great hall with panicked eyes.

"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!"

He looked around, noticing not only the stares of the staff, but of the students.

"Thought you ought to know."

His message delivered, the man collapsed in a dead faint.

"...Right," Ruby said, turning to her right. "Max, I'm still new to magic, how bad is this troll thing?"

Two fifths of the student body started screaming in panic.

"Pretty bad," Maxine confirmed, face pale.

"Okay," Ruby replied, "but pretty bad doesn't tell me what a troll _is_. There are way too many myths in the non-magical world for me to have a good idea-"

"A one-ton twelve-foot tall man eating troglodyte with low intelligence, spell resistance, and usually a big club."

Dumbledore stood quickly. "Prefects, please escort your housemates to the common rooms. The staff will handle this."

Ruby glanced at the head table for a moment, then sighed. "That is actually... a good call, I think. Harry, you should head back okay where did Harry go?"

"He ran out the door," Ron reported. "I think... Oh bloody hell, Hermione!" He dashed off after the wayward student.

"Ron wait-aaaaaaand you ran off." Ruby groaned. "Great. Now I know how Yang felt all those times. I've got to apologize to her."

"We've got to catch up to them and-"

Ruby stood and caught Maxine by the collar before she could go, her silver eyes trapping her instantly. _"You_ will stay with the rest of the house and tell Gabriel I'm going after a few wayward students. Am I clear?"

"You're-...right. Sorry, I wasn't thinking-"

"Yeah, I have that problem too sometimes." Ruby released her and stood up. "Don't want others making my mistakes though."

"Wait! What if you run into the troll? It's magically resistant, you still don't have a lot of spells mastered-"

"Twelve feet tall, you said?" Crescent Rose swung out and unfolded in Ruby's grip. "I've fought bigger."

She vanished in a burst of rose petals.

* * *

Harry was almost to the bathroom when he heard a breathy "Wait! Harry, wait!"

He turned around, raising an eyebrow as Ron Weasley, of all people, turned the corner. "What? What are you-?"

"Harry, mate, just... how the bloody hell are you so fast?"

"Healthy living and Ruby's training?"

"Right, right." Ron took another breath. "I was just thinking that maybe, if you're going to get Hermione, you shouldn't go alone, right?

"What, you think two people are going to have an easier time talking with her than one?"

"No, I mean there's a troll in the castle, and it's dangerous to go alone."

"Which is why," Ruby said as she turned the corner, "the two of you will _both_ be in big trouble _after_ we get Hermione and get you all to the common rooms where you're _supposed_ to be."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by a terrified scream and an angry roar. Both the boys spun around, eyes wide as they rushed down the corridor-

-outrun by a blur of rose petals zipping between them and down the hall.

"Come on!" Harry whirled around the corner. "We've got to hurry!"

"Right!" Ron was right behind him. "You've got a plan, right?"

"...save Hermione?"

"Right, yes, but _how?"_

"Um." Harry managed to shrug helplessly while running. "Magic?"

Ron gaped at him. "You don't have a plan?"

"I'm _eleven_ , what do you want?!"

Whatever Ron would have said in reply would remain a mystery for the ages, as they turned through a door into an already devastated bathroom. Ruby was literally running up a wall, shooting small capsules that seemed to explode whenever they made contact with the enraged face of a twelve-foot tall wall of muscle that had apparently earned the name troll. Harry whipped out his wand, looking around wildly-there, a mousy brown mop of hair, cowering in the corner.

"Hermione!"

The troll's eyes rolled toward Harry, and then Ron.

"Um-"

Another explosion had the troll roaring in pain, his club just missing the brief burst of rose petals that Ruby transformed into.

"Ruby's distracting it, right?" Ron pointed with his wand. "We can run in and grab Hermione, then get out of here."

Harry nodded. "I'll go around its left, you go around its right. Okay go!"

The two boys split apart, rushing around the thick legs as they stomped around the cobbles. Harry managed to slide close to the girl first, holding up a hand as Ron reached out and grabbed her arm. "Hermione, you alright there? Good enough to get out of the room at least?"

The girl trembled in Ron's grasp, but managed to look around. "...I'm not hurt... my shoulder is a little roughed up from where I hit the ground, but I think I can make a quick run."

"Right, so..." Harry glanced at his sister, perched on top of what remained of the stalls. "Get ready..."

The troll swung his club at Ruby-

"NOW!"

-and the three children shot just underneath his arm, running for the door.

The sudden motion caught the troll's attention, throwing off his swing just enough to smash the rest of the stalls into splinters. A shout of surprise made Harry look back just in time to see Ruby falling into the rubble and the club coming right at them; without thinking, he shoved the other two out of the way just before it smacked him into the opposite wall. Hermione skidded across the bathroom tile facefirst as the wooden weapon rushed just over her skull; Ron was able to keep enough of his balance to spin around on one heel and fall on his bum facing the monster.

He glanced at the dent in the wall that held a groaning Harry Potter, then at Hermione trying to push herself, then at the troll pulling back his club, then at the wand in his hand.

His hand shot forward and, without really thinking, he cried "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The troll's eyes snapped to him and he swung his club-hand forward.

After a few seconds of unsmashed students, though, the creature realized that the great mass of wood was no longer in his hand, but hanging in midair. He peered at it warily, poking it with a finger, but before he could really think about this startling development the rubble of the bathroom stalls exploded upward.

Ruby took in the entire scene, her gaze lingering briefly on Harry, before glaring up at the troll's confused beady eyes.

Crescent Rose spiralled in her grip, blade resting against the rubble as she put a boot in the reverse heel. Ch-chlink-and she was in the air, already swinging with a wild cry. The troll stumbled as the scythe's blade caught his thick neck, one hand batting at his assailant as she spiralled round and launching her across the room. Even in midair, Ruby kept her cool-Crescent Rose folded her blade up as the woman swapped cartridges, and she hit the wall above the door in a steely-eyed crouch. With a roar of fury she pushed against and sprung forward, finger already on the trigger, and the befuddled troll stared blankly as the rifle muzzle approached his face seconds before a flash of black hit him point blank.

The professors rushed into the room just in time to see Ruby sumersault to a stop, seconds before the monster's unconscious body slammed against the ground.

Harry pushed himself out of the wall with a moan. "I'm alright, if anybody wants to know." He picked his glasses off the ground, peering at them. "Okay, I'm going to need new lenses, but I'm okay. How about you two?"

Hermione stood shakily. "I'm, well, I'm alive. Yes. Nothing serious. Um... nice work with the spell, Ron, that... that was nice."

"What?" Ron blinked, shaking his eyes off Ruby. "Er, yes. Right. Wingardium... that. Yes." He dropped his wand, flinching as the club fell to the ground. "Did, she was like, she was jumping around everywhere-"

"What happened here?" demanded professor McGonagall.

Harry opened his mouth, only to be cut off by a loud metallic thunk. He cringed as Ron and Hermione whirled around, turning slowly to look at a scene he was unfortunately familiar with: Ruby Rose, the rib of her scythe pressed firmly against the ground, one hand on its grip while the other was on her hip. Her red cloak seemed to flutter dangerously as angry silver eyes fixed on the three children.

"Line. **Up.** _ **Now."**_

The sternness of Ruby's tone had the three students side-by-side, shoulders straight in seconds. She took look at their stance, nodded, and slung her scythe over her shoulder.

"I am _not_ ," she started, "going to lecture you on getting into a dangerous situation. I believe you know now through experience why this was a bad idea. Aside from which, Hermione was not in the great hall when the troll's presence was announced, and it is commendable to seek to save your friends." Her footsteps echoed against the walls as she walked around them. "That said, your _handling_ of the situation once you were in it was dangerously and reprehensibly subpar. Hermione, you not only have a wand but an excellent retention of both magical and nonmagical education. Momentary panic aside, your first duty should have been to get out of here as swiftly as possible and give yourself breathing room to think of a better plan."

"But-"

Within the space of a second Crescent Rose was slammed into the ground inches from Hermione's side. Ruby quirked an eyebrow at the girl's small yelp, before pulling her weapon back.

"...I am willing to forgive this oversight on the grounds that you are, in fact, a child that has not experienced real danger before. The world, however, would not be so compassionate."

"Ysm'm," Hermione squeaked.

"Ronald," Ruby continued, now looking at the suddenly very nervous boy. "Your tactics were quite well constructed and utilized. I do especially appreciate you disarming the troll-that club was frankly the most dangerous thing about the creature."

The boy let out a relieved sigh. "Gee, thanks, it was nothing re-"

" **HOWEVER.** You failed to take advantage of your action, leaving the club hovering without doing anything. At the very least, you could have picked Hermione off the floor, or rushed out yourself to get help. Had I not moved in immediately afterward, your actions could have amounted to pointlessness, and there could have been three pretty red smears across the tile. Never assume a brief advantage has you in the clear, understood?"

Ron nodded vigorously. "Yes ma'am."

"Which, finally, brings me to you, Harry." Ruby focused her eyes on the final child, who seemed resigned. "Unlike these two, I know I've given you some survival and combat training. Which means you should be able to tell me exactly what you did wrong...?"

"I rushed off without explaining myself, thereby endangering myself," Harry recited tonelessly.

"And?"

"...When I realized Ron was following me, I didn't tell him to go back, thereby endangering him."

"And?"

"...um... I should have coordinated with you as the experienced battlefield tactician?"

"And?"

Harry paused. "...I... have a wand?"

Ruby sighed, pointing at the boy-sized dent in the wall. "Just because you know you can take more of a beating than most people, doesn't mean you should be willing to take a huge strike. Saving your friends is great and all, but it would be infinitely better if you could do it without risking your life unnecessarily."

"Right. But, um, we won, right?"

"No." Ruby swung her scythe forward, embedding its point into the ground so that the blade rose over his shoulder. " _I_ won. I dealt with the threat while keeping you three alive, and the second one would not have been a concern if you had simply told me Hermione was in the bathroom instead of rushing off." She snapped out the magazine, swapping it for another. "You had no idea of what you were facing, and while you are talented I have not given you any training that could have prepared you for this. I'm not concerned about you getting into brawls with idiotic street thugs, but if something bigger comes along-"

She pulled the trigger, ending the troll's family line with a loud retort.

"-leave it to the people with the big guns."

"...Yes ma'am," Harry said, eyes downcast.

Ruby flipped Crescent Rose back over her shoulder, turning to the stunned group of professors, and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds there, I just... you know, raising a kid single, he gets into danger, had to get my lecture on, you know?"

"Er... yes." Professor McGonagall nodded slowly. "Well... that's not _exactly_ what I would have said, but it was... I suppose, reasonable advice..."

A moan from the troll caused a jolt through the group, Hermione and Ron quickly running behind Ruby as she pulled out her scythe again.

"Seriously, how is that thing not dead?" she asked nobody in particular. "I mean I know I'm a little out of practice dealing with big creatures, but I was shooting fire at its face and had my blade around its neck at one point."

"Troll skin is very durable, even without the spell resistance," Professor Snape said dryly. "I have known muggleborn students to describe it as a half-meter thick layer of tightly corded rubber."

"Huh. Good to know. I'll swap out my capsules for actual bullets, go for piercing damage next time. If there is a next time, which I _hope-"_ She gave the professors a very pointed look. "-there won't be."

Professor McGonagall pulled out her wand and led the other professors forward. "We have it from here, miss Rose. Thank you for your assistance, we'll get this creature out of the castle posthaste."

"I hope so. Do you mind if I sit in on your next staff meeting, though? I would like to discuss this whole... thing in more detail."

"That's fair, I suppose. I'll have Pamona talk to you about it tomorrow." McGonagall glanced at the children. "For the moment, I think you all should head to the hospital wing for a checkup."

"Of course." Ruby put a firm hand on Harry's shoulder. "I, ah, do have a previous engagement, but I can drop by there on the way. Come along, everyone."

She led the three children out of the room, walking down the halls at a brisk pace. The trek to the hospital wing was mostly quiet but, as they approached the final turn, Ruby cleared her throat.

"You know, despite all the criticism I leveled at you back there-and it was genuine criticism-I am actually very proud of all of you."

Hermione blinked. "...really?"

"Yes, really. Life's going to throw you crazy curveballs sometimes, and you have to learn to roll with it, adapt, and overcome. The fact that you're still alive, with minimal injuries on top of that, after being in the same room as a troll... you kids have potential." She smiled fondly at them. "Maybe I should see about getting you _all_ some extra training."

The three of them barely had time to process that before Ruby had opened the hospital wing door, shoved them all inside, and shut it with a jaunty wave.

Hermione, very slowly, took a breath. "Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Your sister is terrifying."

Harry smiled. "Yes she is."

* * *

Stars twinkled in the lake beside hogwarts, alongside the flickering candlelight from the castle windows and the thick pale curve of the dying moon. The grass shivered with nightlife, insects and amphibians creening out their cries; in the rustling trees of the forbidden forest stranger creatures plied their trade, some hunting others and some watching grim portents. Hogwarts itself seemed stoic enough at first glance but, for those whose eyes were adjusted to the darkness, there was perhaps one strange figure to spot; a mature figure, their legs hanging out a high window as their scarlet cloak billowed softly in the breeze.

The figure pulled out a long shaft with a blade and, with practiced ease, swung it into the brick. She hopped off the window, running circular on the outer wall; at her apex the shaft let loose and released a great burst of black, sending her spiralling skyward. For the briefest of moments she hung, red cape outlined by silver moon, in the middle of the night; then her form dissolved into myriad of petals, raining down upon the castle roof before once more reforming as she crouched on the massive shingles.

A curious bark next to her caught her attention, and she smiled at the interloper. "Oh. Hello Weiss." Her hand reached out, rubbing the snowy owl's head fondly. "What are you doing up so high?"

Weiss leaned back, golden eyes fixing her with a surprisingly stern look.

"Me? Oh, it's a long story. It's my birthday today, you know that?" Ruby smiled sadly. "Twenty six years old. And I... look, Weiss, it's a little personal. Shouldn't you be in the Owlery anyway?"

"Rark," Weiss said flatly.

"...You might want to check on Harry. He's spending the night in the hospital wing."

"Rarrrk?!"

"I'm sure he'll tell you all about it, if you go down to him."

Weiss tilted her head for a moment. Then, with clear reluctance, she opened her wings and glided into the night.

Ruby chuckled. "Well, that's a new one... right, let's get set up." Crescent Rose folded up and rested underneath her cloak; she walked up the roof's incline, boots carefully judging the weight of every step, till she was rested at its crest. Her eyes locked on the moon for a few seconds. Then, with a sigh, she reached into her belt and pulled out a small glass pane.

"...No signal, of course. Hmm... Auric interference warning?" She tilted the object in her hands. "Well, that's new. It's not a serious problem since I'm not... calling anyone soon..."

She shrugged, her fingers tapping the all-too-familiar pattern, and sat cross-legged on the castle's top when a picture of four teenagers appeared.

"...Hey girls. Good to see you again. I've got a lot to catch you up on... I mean, _a lot_. It's crazy how much can change in a year, right? There's people's rights cropping up everywhere, the video game industry is starting to get to a place where you can recognize it, networks are... well, they don't have scrolls yet, but it's getting there. I think there was a space probe hitting an asteroid a couple of days ago too, I haven't followed that news myself... but you know something else? I found wizards! Actual wizards!"

She giggled a bit. "Yes, Weiss, I know it seems ridiculous. But apparently Harry is actually a natural born wizard, so now we're in this... crazy magic school. He's taking to it pretty well, making friends-Blake, I think you'd like Hermione, she's into books and smart as heck. They're in the same house-Hogwarts, that's the magic school, they put the students into one of four houses, sort of like... an inverse of the Beacon team system. Of course I got put into a different house, because apparently it wouldn't be a good idea to have his mother figure in the same house. Yeah, I know Yang, but you have to admit they have a point. Actually, you'll want to hear this, just a few minutes ago Harry got himself into some really big trouble..."

Her one sided conversation carried on long into the night.


	13. Dancing Through Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never attended an Atlas Technology Expo or a Hogwarts Magical Demonstration.

"I must thank you for your help with the troll, miss Rose. I hadn't realized there were any students missing--the Halloween feast is such a social fixture that the idea of students not willing to attend failed to cross my mind." 

Ruby nodded somberly. "Honestly, Hermione was just bad timing. Harry and Ron... well, I was probably worse at their age, but I always at least had my big sister to drag me out of trouble."

The headmaster chuckled wryly. "If only I had an elder sibling when I was a young lad..."

"The world would be a different place?"

"Most assuredly. But, enough on my own ruminations..." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Occlumency requires both that you notice a mental intruder, and that you are able to react to their presence. I think this session shall be simple enough, all things considered; all you will be required to do is hold a conversation with me about what it is you are remembering. While, of course, being in the memory itself. We can move on to the actual  _defense_  of your mind in later sessions."

"I suppose that makes sense..." Ruby frowned momentarily, before shaking her head. "Alright. Let's get this show on the road."

Dumbledore raised his wand and _the sounds of an ordinary day in Vale echoed around her as she considered what Penny had told her. It didn't make sense for Ironwood to tell Penny to keep to herself... actually, looking back, it_ did _make sense, given her secret. Which she hadn't told Ruby yet, so how did..._

_"Right. Memory."_

_"Very good, miss Rose." Dumbledore joined in walking with them, apparently unnoticed by the girl next to her. "Would you mind telling me what--?"_

_A blare of noise caught their attention, and Ruby walked around the corner to see a presentation in progress. "Oh, right, this day. The Atlas tech presentation. Headmaster, you'll want to see this."_

_The old wizard stepped up next to her, adjusting his glasses. "My word..."_

_"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job," said the holographic man in the center of the stage. "Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" The six machines on the stage bowed at the applause of the crowd. "But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!"_

_"That's General James Ironwood," Ruby explained as six more advanced robots stepped out of the crates and kicked down the older models. "The headmaster of the Atlas Academy, leader of the Atlas military, holds two seats on the Atlas council..."_

_"An important man," Dumbledore mused._

_"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary. These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone!" The hologram of Ironwood rose his hands. "Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch."_

_"Ruby...?"_

_Ruby turned her attention to Penny. "Oh... right. Penny, do you want to go?"_

_"She can't hear you," Dumbledore explained sadly. "She's just a memory."_

_"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... the Atlesian Paladin!" Ironwood's hologram was replaced with the image of a large, mechanical walker that had weaponized guns on its arms. "Now, we couldn't have him here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"_

_"Whoa..." Ruby breathed. And then frowned. "Wait, why am I amazed? I've_ fought _these things before."_

_"You are reliving your own memory," Dumbledore informed her with some amusement. "If you were amazed the first time--"_

_"Ruby?" Penny glanced around nervously. "Maybe we should go somewhere else."_

_"Is your young friend here some sort of troublemaker?"_

_"What? No!" Ruby shook her head. "Penny was the most law-abiding--"_

_Penny turned and bolted, drawing her attention. "Penny! Wait! Where are you--this is annoying, do I really have to say the exact same thing every time?"_

_"You can change things somewhat, but your memory will retake its original shape rapidly." Dumbledore levitated off the ground as Ruby started running. "I do hope you don't mind my breaking the rules a little, my old legs can't quite keep up with these speeds."_

_"We're in my mind," Ruby pointed out. "The laws of physics are kind of malleable."_

_"Down here! She went this way!"_

_Ruby rolled her eyes, jumping across the street. "All they had to do was call Penny on her scroll. We could have avoided all this if they hadn't scared her!" Her scythe snapped out, slicing through a support beam and sending crates tumbling between her and the guards._

_"And what exactly_ is _all this?" Dumbledore asked._

_"Well--This way!" Ruby lunged at Penny, picking her up and running alongside the wall. "Ooof! I forgot how heavy you were, Penny! Wait, after this comes--"_

_The two of them rolled into another street. Ruby shook her head, standing up. "The truck... the truck comes and--"_

_A loud crash sounded behind her._

_"Yeah, that. That happens." She waved vaguely as she turned around. "Penny stops the truck, asks--"_

_"Are you okay?" Penny asked the driver of the car she'd stopped barehanded._

_The driver nodded nervously._

_"Isn't that the storekeep you saved from that thief?" Dumbledore asked._

_"Yeah, he's apparently an entrepreneur of some sort. Runs a lot of shops--wait, Penny!"_

_Ruby rushed after her friend, who had once more taken off, only vaguely noting the headmaster floating after her. "Okay, okay, Penny, calm down, please--"_

_"She's a memory," Dumbledore reminded her._

_"I know that!" Ruby snapped. "I know I was confused, I asked why she was running and how she did that--"_

_"I, I can't! Everything's fine!" Penny hiccuped. "I don't want to talk about it!" She hiccuped again._

_"Penny, if you can just... Oh gods, Penny, I wish I could have helped you."_

_Dumbledore stepped up. "Miss Rose?"_

_"No! No, no, you wouldn't understand!"_

_"Let me try! You can trust me!" Ruby's voice cracked. "I should have told the others, I should have been ready to save you--"_

_"Ruby--"_

_"You're my friend, right?" Penny pressed close. "You promise you're my friend?!"_

_"She's just a memory," Dumbledore repeated sadly._

_"I promise," Ruby replied, taking her hands. "Forever and always, Penny, I promise."_

_"I think, perhaps, I should end our jaunt through this memory right now."_

Ruby blinked as she found herself back in the headmaster's office. She paused, taking a deep breath.

"...Ten years. Ten years, and then some, since I saw her..."

"I won't ask," the man said, gently. "I should warn you, though, those who would... use your memories against you, they might very well use her against you."

She nodded, rubbing some moistness out of her eye. "Yeah... I... I saw a lot of good people die that night... a few bad people too... I'm sorry, this isn't--"

"It's never wrong to mourn those you have lost. Just... remember, those who remain are still worth your time."

Ruby huffed a wry laugh. "Don't tell me a lesson I've already learned, professor."

"Well, you are here for remedial courses," Dumbledore pointed out. "And it never hurts to review old material."

"...I... suppose you're right," Ruby admitted. "I'm sorry, she... I was her first real friend, and... she was the first one to die. In front of everyone..."

She trailed off for a moment.

"...We can end this for tonight," Dumbledore offered.

"No." Ruby looked up, her eyes firming. "No. She died because... if anything, I want to know I can stop this from happening again. Hit me."

The headmaster sighed. "Remember, you are to talk about what is happening in the memory while it is happening. You have to learn to split your focus."

"Understood. Hit me."

With a resigned shrug, Dumbledore raised his wand and  _she was stumbling into the dance hall, groaning in complaint. "This is why I don't wear heels."_

_"Ooooh, you look beautiful!" Yang cooed from the podium._

_Ruby glared at her, then at the old man standing next to her. "Harry NEVER hears about this, understood?"_

_"You have my word," Dumbledore agreed, his smile matched by Yang's laughter._

_"I still don't know how Weiss fought in these things," she grumbled, standing up next to her sister. "Anyway, yeah, this was the Beacon Dance--a quick party for the students from the other academies. They came for the Vytal Tournament, which wouldn't be for a bit but it's such a big thing it takes a while to set up." Ruby chuckled wryly. "Apparently all the upperclassmen were busy handling Grimm assignments, so Weiss and Yang got picked to organize the decorating and food. And all that."_

_"They seem to have done a decent job," Dumbledore noted. He paused for a moment, looking at the pair coming in. "...Why does that young man have a monkey tail?"_

_"Huh? Oh right. The Faunus. They're... the other race of Remnant. They have night vision and one animal trait apiece..." Ruby watched Blake break off from the man, joining her sister on the dance floor. "And, unfortunately, they tend to get the short end of the stick. A lot of people try to end racism, but..."_

_She trailed off for a moment._

_"I have... seen my fair share of bigotry," Dumbledore admitted. "It is always such a waste. I... regret that I myself indulged such a mindset in my younger days."_

_Ruby blinked, turning to him for a moment... before sighing. "Well, I know from personal experience bigotry can be grown out of. Weiss... let's just say she had a very personal reason to hate the faunus, and she managed to change her views."_

_"Mmm." The old man looked over at the white-haired girl that stepped up to them. "I hope it didn't cost her as much as it cost me."_

_Ruby focused on him again. "You want to talk about it? Because until this dance ends not a lot worth mentioning happens in this memory."_

_"No... no, I have others to talk to about this. And this is more a night about you than me."_

_"You know, that's creepy when I'm a twenty-six-year-old woman. It's extra creepy when I'm a fifteen-year-old girl."_

_Dumbledore smiled wryly. "It is indeed. Thankfully for you, you have nothing that interests me in that particular manner."_

_She focused a mock glare on his face. "Good, because I would break your legs if you made a move."_

_The two of them stared at each other for a bit... before breaking down in a small set of chuckles._

_"So, your sister is dancing with--"_

_"Blake. She promised Blake the first dance if she came..." Ruby sighed. "Blake... was going through a rough time. Some things came to light... you can probably just read my mind to find out, can't you?"_

_"I could, but that's not the intent behind these exercises."_

_"Isn't this to prevent my mind being read?"_

_"Eventually. But first, you must know when it is being read. And it would be horribly awkward to meet your friends and tell them I found out their secrets from probing your psyche."_

_"Heh, I guess."_

_The music ended, and Yang curtseyed to Blake before passing her off to the monkey boy. She walked up to her teammates with a smirk. "I told you she would come."_

_"Mission accomplished," Weiss agreed._

_"Sooooo, do you two want to do anything different this time around?" Ruby asked hopefully._

_"Just have fun!" Yang decreed, walking off in one direction while Weiss walked off in another._

_"Of course, you're just memories," Ruby grumbled. "First time in a decade that we're together and--ow!" She glared at her shoes. "Stupid lady stilts!"_

_"Not enjoying yourself?"_

_Ruby snorted. "Right, you did come up. Headmaster Dumbledore, meet Headmaster Ozpin."_

_Dumbledore adjusted his glasses. "Hmmm...."_

_"Well you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield," Ozpin reminded her, "even if you may want to."_

_"He has a point," Dumbledore mused._

_"I fight monsters so others can stay safe," Ruby countered petulantly._

_"If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different." Ozpin looked out over the crowd. "Two partners interlocked... although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot."_

_Dumbledore rose his eyebrows. "He was married, wasn't he?"_

_"Huh?" Ruby blinked. "I don't... think so, no."_

_"It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this," Ozpin continued obliviously. "Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget."_

_"He was most certainly married," Dumbledore mused. "And it ended poorly."_

_"How can you possibly know that?" Ruby asked. "Are you reading his mind through mine, is that a thing?"_

_"No, it's just the way he's saying that--"_

_"I don't want to speculate about my headmaster's love life! And I am, like, ninety-three percent certain that he was never married!"_

_"Care to put a wager on that?" Dumbledore asked with an amused grin. "Some of my favorite wizarding sweets, versus some of the best Remnant confectionaries?"_

_"...you know what, fine, sure, it'll never come up, so why not?" Ruby stalked over to the punch bowl. "I'll look through the records if I ever get back. But I promise you, Beacon's headmaster was staunchly single."_

_"I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too."_

_A smile graced Ruby's face as she turned to the blond boy next to her. "Hello, Jaune. I hope you've been taking care of my team while I've been gone."_

_Jaune chuckled wryly, clicking his punch glass against hers. "To the socially awkward."_

_"So..." Dumbledore came up beside them._

_"Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR... and he had a stupid crush on Weiss at this point."_

_"Meh, it's fine," Jaune assured her. "Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him."_

_"Oh yeah, Jaune doesn't know that Neptune turned down Weiss for the dance yet."_

_Jaune shrugged. "Well, come on, not many people can pull off blue hair."_

_Ruby rolled her eyes. "And now I tell him she came to the dance alone and--"_

_The boy choked on his punch. "Uh, what?"_

_"Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys. Which in retrospect was such an obvious excuse to cover her pain at rejection that I'm really glad you're going to do what you're about to do."_

_Jaune's eyes tracked across the room to a gaggle of individuals. "Hold my punch." He stalked off, clearly intent on dealing with the boy... and then paused, seeing a red-haired woman ascend the stairs glumly._

_"See, this is fair," Ruby said as he followed the woman. "Pyrrha is your partner. Deal with your team before you deal with mine. Jaune's a good guy, he didn't..."_

_Dumbledore looked at her. "If you like--"_

_"No, I just... this was a fun time. Don't end the memory until I'm about to step out... please."_

_"...if you wish."_

_"...I think Pyrrha might have been crushing on Jaune. If she'd just... said something, before the festival... I don't know. Maybe she wouldn't have died. Maybe Jaune would have been with her... or maybe they both would have died." She smiled sadly. "I don't know exactly what he did... he had to have talked with Pyrrha. And Neptune too. He saw Weiss and Pyrrha having a bad night and... he fixed it, and, well." She raised her punch glass in a toast. "Good on you, Jaune."_

_Dumbledore nodded. "It's the little things, sometimes. Ah, isn't that... Penny, your friend from before?"_

_Ruby nodded. "Yes. I didn't go over because I didn't want to get her in trouble, but..." She waved to Penny, and Penny smiled and waved back quickly. "Yeah, we kept an eye on each other. Aaaaand Yang noticed."_

_As if on cue, the blonde materialized. "Hey, that's the girl from the docks, right?"_

_"See, I never really had a crush before, and Yang's my older sister so she knew that."_

_"Maybe you should go over and give her some punch," Yang suggested oh so casually._

_Ruby rolled her eyes. "And here comes the teasing."_

_"I'm sure you could swap swordfighting tips," Yang added with a waggle of her eyebrows._

_Ruby shoved her lightly. "Wow. Ten years does a lot to immunize you to innuendo."_

_"Did you actually have a crush on Penny?" Dumbledore asked._

_"I... you know, looking back on it, I really don't know." Ruby took up a glass. "I did get her punch. Then we pretended to recognize each other from the docks, and I introduced myself to the guards, so we could hang out later without anybody being suspicious."_

_"Oh, hello there!" Penny said brightly, eyes darting to her guards._

_"Hey! I remember you, from the docks right? You looked a little thirsty." Ruby winked as she handed the glass over._

_"I am so sorry your first love had such a tragic death," Dumbledore offered solemnly._

_"Why thank you! I'm Penny Polendina."_

_Ruby sighed. "Like I said, I don't know if it was love. She was interesting because..." She shook her head. "Anyway, I don't do romance. You should know that now, before you go to any sort of meddling."_

_The guard on the right nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss Rose."_

_"Now why would I meddle in any student's love life?" Dumbledore asked. "Wizarding politics is simply much more rewarding."_

_Ruby gave him a flat look. "Yeah, I'm sure it is."_

_"That would be most enjoyable, friend Ruby!"_

_The guard on the left coughed._

_"I will... see if I can arrange it with my father," Penny added, before hiccuping._

_Ruby giggled. "Yeah... I'll see you later." She turned, wiping a tear from her eyes as she ascended to the second tier. "Anyway, so what happens next is The Dance, and then a bit of chatter, and then... I wander out."_

_"The dance?"_

_Ruby smirked. "You'll see..." She watched over the couples dancing together slowly. "We were all so young. Me more than most. Just having a happy party... if only one of us had been more on the ball."_

_"If only, if only." Dumbledore stood next to her. "If one lets if only's take over one's mind, one remains trapped forever."_

_"I know. Still... looking back, this was our best chance to catch Cinder before she..." Ruby choked back a sob. "They all look so happy now."_

_Dumbledore opened his mouth, but was cut off when Ruby's sister literally strode through him. "You know... I think we really needed this."_

_Ruby smiled up at Yang. "Yeah, and you did a great job planning it too!"_

_"Aw, thanks!" The blonde pulled her into a tight hug, one Ruby did not resist. "It wasn't all me, though. Weiss did a lot too."_

_Ruby nodded, looking down to where the white-haired girl was sitting. "Weiss... hang on for me, okay?"_

_"Tomorrow it's back to work," Yang added, resigned._

_"Back to work?" Dumbledore asked._

_"Long story. Actually, you'll want to see this." Ruby broke out of the hug, hands on the railings. "And three... two... one..."_

_Dumbledore's brows shot up when Jaune, of all people, entered the dance floor wearing a short shift. "Well, that's interesting."_

_"He said, before this, that if Pyrrha didn't get a date to the dance he'd show up in a dress." Ruby smiled at the redhead's laughter. "But this isn't the best part."_

_"Oh?"_

_"Waaaaaaaait for it...."_

_Jaune held out his hand to Pyrrha, who took it happily. They were joined by the other two members of their team... and they proceeded to go through a rapid complex series of moves that quickly had everybody cheering._

_"...Always fun to remember that," Ruby admitted. "They were such a good team... so in tune with each other..."_

_She sighed. "And in a few moments, I'm going to turn around and walk out. And...." She turned to Dumbledore. "If it's possible... can we end it here for tonight? On a bright note?"_

_The headmaster looked at her gravely. "For tonight. But understand... if we are to teach you how to defend your mind, I cannot restrict this to fond memories."_

_"I know. Still..." She looked back at the crowd. "They all look so happy now. I want to remember them like this."_

_"...Alright."_

_Ruby shut her eyes._ When she opened them again, she was eleven years older, in another room entirely.

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "...You are... doing a lot to get off thin ice," she admitted, giving the old man behind the desk a thankful smile.

Dumbledore nodded. "Off to bed with you, then. Best to have some pleasant dreams from these memories of the lost."

"Fair enough." Ruby stood, bowing briefly. "Goodnight, headmaster." She turned and departed the room.

The headmaster waited until she had left, before tapping a wand to his head. "Quite an odd world, yours is..." A silvery thread was pulled, examined, and carefully cataloged. "I do hope you find out what brought you here, at the very least."


	14. A Quidditch Landing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never performed a Wronski feint or a Nevermore Launch.

"Rark."

"Mnnnrg."

"Rark!"

"Gmmfff, 'm slpn..."

Weiss ruffled her feathers. She leaned in close, bit her beak down, and started flapping.

"Ow! Hey, stop!"

"Wh..." another voice grumbled. "Wha's going on, Hermione?"

The curly-haired witch batted the owl off her face. "I don't know, this bird just--"

"Rark." Weiss stuck out her leg pointedly.

"Mail? In bed?" Hermione groaned, taking the scroll and opening it. "...oh, you have got to be kidding me."

"What is it?"

"Ruby wants me to join Harry and her in their morning exercises. And apparently, since Harry can't come into the girl's dorm, he sent Weiss instead."

"Rark," Weiss confirmed with a proud nod.

"...It's five-forty," groaned one of the other girls.

"I know... I'm sorry." Hermione gave Weiss a petulant look. "Fine, I'll be downstairs... sometime."

Weiss rose herself up primly.

"...Oh come on, you can't just stand there and watch me--you're going to do that. You're going to watch me until I go down, aren't you."

The owl nodded. "Rark."

Hermione grumbled, pulling off her blankets. "Fine, you stubborn bird. Fine, I'm going, I'm going!"

* * *

The clock had just chimed seven when Hermione walked out of the castle, finally managing to wave the snowy owl off her head. She groaned when she caught sight of Ruby overseeing three others in their exercises. "Was it absolutely necessary to wake me up before the sun rose? You could have just waited until I came down to the great hall."

"Nope! Great hall food is made for a day of schooling." Ruby tossed her a few plastic-wrapped objects. "You get snack bars, half an hour of exercises, a shower--I talked with the quidditch captain and he's agreed to let us use the Hufflepuff showers--and then we go back in for a real british meal." She shook her head. "Honestly, if it weren't for the magic we're using every day, I'd wonder how the older students weren't rolling around the halls."

"A lot of older wizards do have a bit of a paunch," Nym mused, curving her back into a tight arch.

Hermione winced. "Am I going to have to do that?"

"Huh?" Ruby glanced at the older student. "Oh, no! Nym's a metamorph, low-level shapeshifting. This is just so she becomes more in tune with it on a conscious level. Turns out changing the length of your limbs subconsciously can actually make you really clumsy."

"It's metamorphamagus," Nym corrected her, twisting around with a wince. "Oh WOW that's a strain. I get why most people don't do that."

"Yeah, that does look pretty painful," Ruby agreed. "That you can do it is impressive, though. Keep up the good work!"

She turned back to Hermione. "You just have to do a few stretches with Harry and Ron. Harry, you want to walk your housemate through the exercises--?"

"Actually, before we start that, I have some questions."

Harry chuckled. "Of course you do."

Hermione produced a familiar scroll, covered with math symbols and, in red, various circles and notes. "What is this?"

"...Oh yeah, that's the math behind my landing strategy you wanted." Ruby looked at the scroll, nodding. "Hmm. You've got a lot of good notes, but this part here is a little wrong--"

"No, I mean, what  _is_  this?!" Hermione demanded. "This is beyond college-level physics!"

"It's just human ballistics."

"Just--? Ruby, a scientist could MAYBE calculate the trajectory of somebody launched from a catapult and the force they'd hit the ground with if they knew their weight and the details of the catapult. This is beyond that. I had to spend two months figuring out what half of this was measuring. You've got mid-trajectory alterations based on hooking things in midair. And shock absorption for your individual limbs. And, and look at this 'aura-semblance' stuff! I mean I don't even know what that is but without it the equation falls apart! This is not ordinary human ballistics, this is... super-computer level calculation of superhuman agility!"

"...I mean, I always got good grades," Ruby allowed, "but back home this is gradeschool stuff."

_"What?!"_

"Okay, maybe more middle school. High school? I mean, I was skipped up a few years--"

"You are missing the point! This," Hermione jabbed a finger into the scroll, "this is the sort of precision math I would expect to take a month to calculate after the fact at minimum, and... and you're saying this is  _normal?"_

"Well, if you could be thrown into a building or tossed off a cliff or flung into the sky at any given moment, you need a landing strategy..." Ruby paused. "To be fair, human ballistics  _is_  a combat school course. So maybe one out of a few hundred people would study this."

The curly-haired witch stared at her, aghast. "...Where are you  _from?"_

Ruby smiled sadly. "That's a long story, kid. And we only have time for you to get through some stretches now."

"But--"

"Up-bup-bup! Too many questions leads to not enough action. Think about  _why_  you want to ask what you want to ask before you ask it. Now why don't you let Harry lead you through the first few exercises?" Ruby glanced at the other students. "I think Ron's pulled something, I need to check on him."

Hermione blinked as Ruby looked over the young boy, humming contemplatively.

"I did tell you she was an alien," Harry pointed out quietly.

"...I... that just raises further questions!"

"I know, right? Anyway, stretches. So why don't we start with a few lunges..."

"Okay, Ron, where does it hurt?"

Ron groaned, rubbing his left shoulder. "I don't know what happened, but--"

Ruby knelt down, putting her hand on it and moving his arm. "Yeah... feels like just a pulled muscle." She slipped her hand into the pouch hanging off her belt, pulling out a small glass vial and peering at the pale blue material that filled less than half of it. "...well it's not like I use this kind that much... has it really been that long?"

Harry glanced over, frowning. "Ruby--"

"I know, I know. Come on, Harry, I'm the one that had to handle this for ten years." The cork came out with a pop and Ruby ran her pinkie finger through the grainy substance before carefully putting the cork back. "Just a little bit, that should be enough. Hold still, Ron."

"What?" Ron turned around. "What are you--?"

Ruby ran her hand over his shoulder and suddenly it was enveloped in a decent chunk of ice. "There. That better?"

"Uh... yeah. What did you just do?"

"Juuuust a trick I learned from my dad." Ruby put the vial back into her pouch, shutting it firmly. "Don't worry, people pull muscles all the time. It's part of pushing the body to greater peaks. You rest for a few minutes, and we'll go over some new stretches when--"

"Ruby, you just spontaneously generated a chunk of ice," Hermione pointed out.

"Aren't you a witch?" Ruby countered.

Hermione frowned. "Yes, but--"

"And shouldn't you be going through your morning exercises right now?"

"That's not--"

"That's what I thought," Ruby said firmly. "Lunges first. We'll get into upper body stretches in a moment."

Hermione frowned. "Are you deliberately avoiding my questions?"

"Ye-p."

"Why?"

Ruby opened her mouth, paused, and frowned to herself. She considered the pouch on her belt, tapping it thoughtfully.

"...I'm... going to have to think on that one," she finally admitted, her voice soft and her eyes heavy. "It's been so long..."

Hermione opened her mouth to ask another question but found herself distracted by the snack bar Harry shoved into it. She glared at him, only to receive a slow shake of the head.

"...So!" Nym said firmly. "Harry! I hear your first quidditch match is later today!"

"Huh? Oh yeah." Harry grinned. "It sounds like it'll be fun."

"Fun?" Ron stared at him. "Mate, it's more than just fun. Quidditch is one of the most important part of a wizard's life!"

"Read: It's a sport with leagues and Ron is a major sports fan," Ruby quipped with a grin.

Nym quirked an eyebrow. "You aren't?"

"I traveled too much to attach to any team. And a lot of the sports available are just..." Ruby shook her head. "There's not enough  _personality_. Everybody plays by the same rules. Even the fighting tournaments have everybody using the same technique, usually. It's not that it's not fun to watch, I just don't get that engaged in most of that."

Hermione finally swallowed her snack bar. "Were you not a sporty sort as a kid?"

"Oh, I was very physically active. Heck, I was even in the Vytal Tournament..." Ruby's eyes grew distant for a moment, a faint smile on her face. A smile that turned to a grimace, before she shook her head. "Well, let's just say I might have been turned off that sort of thing. I mean, I'll still cheer Harry on, obviously. Sports can be good. Just... not my thing anymore."

"The Vytal Tournament?" The curly-haired witch cocked her head. "What's that? I've never heard of it."

"...You know, I get the feeling you keep asking these questions so I don't notice you're not doing your stretches."

"But--"

"Harry tried the same trick," Ruby mused. "Once or twice, before I caught on. I'm not going to be fooled, young lady."

"I was just--"

"One question would lead into another, and then another, and then before I knew it an hour had passed and we weren't able to get through the lesson plan of the day."

"That's not what I'm--"

"I don't want to dampen your curiosity. But at the same time..." Ruby sighed. "Look, these questions... They're sensitive, alright? More than you know. I don't feel comfortable answering them right now." She knelt down, looking her in the eye. "Maybe I'll answer your questions later. But not right now. Understand?"

Hermione frowned. "Is this a thing where you think I'm too young to understand?"

"No. This is a thing where I think  _I_  am not ready to talk about it."

"You talked about it with me," Harry pointed out quietly.

Ruby bit her lip. "...You're my little brother, Harry. That's different."

"Yeah. But..." Harry sighed. "Look, I get it, alright? It's a lot. And... I get that it's personal. But if you're not going to let anybody in... how are you ever going to get help?"

She glanced away.

After a moment, though, a wry chuckle escaped her lips. "From the mouth of babes, huh? Alright... I'll think about it."

"Good."

"If!" she added firmly, "You two actually start going through your exercises now!"

* * *

Harry gripped his broomstick tightly, looking around at the older students that made up his teammates.

Strictly speaking, his job on the team was the simplest: find the tiny golden ball hovering around the field and catch it before the other Seeker did. Of course, simple did not mean easy, by far. The drills he'd run with the rest of the team made that much clear. Dodging through a group of twelve broomstick riders while trying to avoid three other balls, two of which would actually deliberately be attempting to knock into him or some other players in order to knock them out. And half the players would be trying to stop him from finding the tiny golden ball, let alone getting it before the other, more experienced Seeker managed to catch it. The only saving grace was that the Quidditch patch was, in fact, reasonably large--maneuvering would be fairly easy, both for him and for the other players.

It would certainly be a challenge... but not one he couldn't handle.

"Alright." Madam Hooch looked around the teams. "I want a good, clean game. Remember: the honor of your houses is at stake, and dishonorable conduct will reflect poorly on them. Is that understood?"

The Gryffindors narrowed their eyes at the Slytherin team. The Slytherins smirked dryly. Harry looked between them, a realization creeping over him; he'd been signed up not to play a sport, but to fight a war. A war where little ignorances of the rules might be commonplace.

Madam Hooch rolled her eyes. "Well, at least try not to kill each other." She took the largest ball in hand, raising it up. "And... begin!"

The moment the ball was tossed, every broomstick took off. Harry quickly zipped up to the edge of the pitch, circling around the fray and keeping his eyes out for the tiny speck of gold that was flitting through the area. The other Seeker seemed to simply sit on one side, eyes roving across the pitch, as though that would give him an advantage. Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. It wasn't something Harry needed to focus on.

As he orbited the fray, he couldn't help noticing that the Slytherin team seemed more coordinated. The Gryffindors played well individually, sure, but watching the Chasers... the two new girls, joining just this year, didn't seem to fit in with the power dynamic that Angelina had with the twins. It didn't help that the Slytherin Beaters were hounding the newcomers, and it certainly didn't help that their Keeper was on the ball--figuratively and literally, actually. Compared to that, it didn't matter that Oliver was just as good a keeper--the three Slytherin chasers managed to score five goals to Gryffindor's one.

A sheen of light caught his attention, and he twitched his broomstick down, rocketing between two Slytherin Chasers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the opposing seeker begin his own dive, but he focused entirely on the shimmering object that jumped and wove like a mad bee through the forest of brooms. Over, under, roll, he darted around the other players, sometimes spinning to a dangerous angle. The snitch moved at abrupt angles, but he closed in with every turn, till at last he was rising straight up--

\--and as he reached out, he realized his broom had stopped momentarily, so he released the grip his knees had and let inertia take him the rest of the way. His fingers wrapped around their prize in triumph.

Then, for no readily apparent reason, his broom shot off toward the forest, leaving him in the air without any support. He had just enough time to realize that was unusual before gravity decided that he'd done enough flying and needed to get down to earth.

Training took over then--not the training from Oliver, but the training from before. The quaffle was, by sheer coincidence, flying underneath him; he angled himself and kicked off just as they passed, turning 'straight down' into 'down and slightly to the left.' One of the twins, having noticed his predicament, was already flying close--he reached out and grabbed the outstretched bat, but the boy wasn't quite prepared for the sudden weight and found it torn from his grasp.

Still, it gave Harry not only a spin to his descent, but another tool to control it.

"Sorry!" he shouted, swinging and hitting the broom of a passing Slytherin--the impact spinning it around and slamming into Harry's back. Now his fall had a much more horizontal angle, which was a lot better than two seconds ago, but had the negative side effect of launching him toward one of the goalposts. He held out the bat hand, slamming into it with a loud 'krrk,' and winced at the jolt through his body; his legs wrapped around the post, and he slid headfirst toward the still distant ground. Moments before he impacted, he stuck his hands out, releasing his grip on the pole and backspringing onto the ground of the pitch.

He skidded to a stop at the feet of Madam Hooch, who was giving him a distinctly unamused look. "And what was that stunt all about?"

"Um..." Harry uncurled his hand, revealing the prize. "Well, after I caught the snitch, my broomstick went crazy..."

"Of course. Gryffindors...." Without another word, she pulled out a whistle and blew it. "Match is over! Gryffindor wins, 160 to 50."

The stands erupted into cheers as the players descended. Harry sheepishly handed the bat back to the twin who had loaned it to him, turning to the Slytherin whose broom he'd hit. "Hey, seriously, thanks for--"

"You think you're such a big shot, Potter?" the sixth-year spat. "Just because of that scar?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, I think I'm cool because I can fall from great heights and live to talk about it. Seriously, is your broom okay? Mine freaked out up there."

"Are you accusing us of cheating?" the boy snarled.

"No," Harry said, holding up his hands.

"It sure sounds like it!"

"The boy is concerned about your broom's integrity, Flint." Madam Hooch stepped between them. "That's all."

The sixth-year glared at Harry for a moment. "The broom is fine. You got lucky."

"Harry Potter!"

Harry sighed. "Oh no..." He turned, smiling awkwardly at the silver eyes glowering at him. "Hey Ruby! I won! Yaaaaaay!"

"What have I told you about Nevermore launches?"

"...make sure I can use both feet," Harry grumbled. "But--"

"And the Lancer spin?"

"Aim for nearby elevated surfaces. But Ruby--"

"And did I  _ever_  say you were ready to use  _either_  of those techniques?"

"No, I just--"

"So why didn't you just wait for your team to catch you?" Ruby demanded. "That's what they're there for!"

"Actually we're here to play Quidditch," Oliver said.

Ruby's eyes snapped to him dangerously. "Are you saying," she growled, "that you  _wouldn't_  catch a falling teammate?"

Oliver cleared his throat. "N-not at all, I just meant that if it's the middle of the game, we can't..."

He took in her expression and coughed.

"Oliver's just a little over-competitive," said one of the twins. "Don't hold it against him, he really does care about the team."

"Hmmm." Ruby frowned, but conceded the point with a nod. "I suppose... And to be fair, Harry, while you're still not ready to use those techniques regularly, you did pull them off rather well."

"Really?"

"Which of course means you're going to get some more advanced early morning exercises."

Harry sagged. "Oh. Right, of course."

"Awwww, what's the matter, Potter?" The Slytherin sixth-year smirked. "Having trouble with your mum?"

Harry groaned. "Aaaaand now look what you've done."

"Yeah... sorry." Ruby shrugged awkwardly. "Maybe I should have waited."

"Oh don't worry, miss." The Slytherin boy slid in closer with what he probably thought was a suave grin. "I completely understand how hard it is to deal with children."

Ruby gave him a flat look. "Yes, your mother must complain about that all the time. Still... well done, Harry."

"Thanks, sis."

"What was with the broomstick going off, though?"

Harry shrugged. "No idea. Maybe the magic jammed or something."


	15. Trust and Secrecy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not have silver eyes or a lightning-shaped scar.

Ruby took one look at the Headmaster's expression and sighed. "This is going to be the night that the training gets nasty, isn't it?"

"Am I really so obvious?"

"I was trained in combat and I've trained Harry. That's the neutral expression of somebody who doesn't want their student to worry." She shut the door behind her. "So I guess tonight I'll be reliving the fall of Beacon."

Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow as Ruby sat in her usual chair. "Now that's a bold assumption to make."

"Is it? I have a decade's worth of life experience on Earth, a lot of which involves me getting into various armed conflicts, and yet somehow every time we go into these occulmency lessons the memories dredged up are from Remnant." She crossed her arms. "Why is that, I wonder."

Dumbledore shrugged. "Formative experiences?"

Ruby leveled a flat look on him.

"...Very well," he conceded, "I will admit interest in the mysterious warrior who adopted the Boy Who Lived and is now attending a school filled with students whose safety are my responsibility."

"You could have just asked."

"Would you have told me the truth? After so many years, I presume, of hiding what you really are?"

Ruby bit her lip, glancing away. "...maybe not. Secrecy is a hard habit to break."

"That it is," Dumbledore agreed solemnly. "There were many secrets during the war... and not much trust."

"Trust..." The woman ran her hand through her hair thoughtfully. "...when did I become so distrusting...?"

"I don't think it's that you  _distrust_  others, exactly. I've seen how you talk with the professors, and from what they tell me you are just as frank and friendly with the students, even if they are younger than you." Dumbledore shook his head. "No, your secrecy is one born of the same kind that keeps a parent from telling their children about their troubles; one where you don't want to worry others, and you don't know if they will understand. The difference, it seems, is that you have yet to meet somebody who you feel is mature enough to accept those problems. Which, to be frank, shows a rather poor opinion of the rest of us." He quirked a brow. "It was not so long ago that the professors at this very school were embroiled in a horrific war of their own. Our world may lack the creatures of Grimm, but that does not make us naive."

Ruby huffed in wry amusement. "Naive, no. But you hide away from those without magic, and your youngest already have some biases of their own. All Slytherins are evil, or that some people are worthless. Adding my own problems on top of that... I shouldn't even be here, really. Harry could have come on his own, I'm only here..."

She trailed off, her eyes falling in shame.

"...you're only here to find out if magic has a way to get you home," the headmaster finished, his tone gentle.

"Guess it's obvious, if you know about it..."

"I will not lie, Ruby, I don't know if it's possible even  _with_  magic. But... there are things the Department of Mysteries study. At the very least, you may find more help here than you would in the muggle world." The old man smiled wryly. "And I do have a bit of pull I can use to help you search for answers. It's certainly more interesting than most of what I have to deal with these days."

"I suppose it would be," Ruby conceded. "But... bringing this back around to what we're doing tonight..."

"Very basic forced intrusion. I will, yes, be forcing you to relive traumatic memories. Your task is to force me out. A test of willpower." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "This will not be pleasant, to say the least."

"Well, that's lovely." With a deep breath, the woman braced herself. "Alright, I'm ready."

Dumbledore raised his wand and  _she was walking down the stairs to find a seat in the colluseum. Even if her sister couldn't be here, she could still cheer on Pyrrha..._

_wait..._

_wait, no. Her eyes fell on Emerald--_

_"No," she breathed. "This is a memory." Her feet took her to a maintenance door. "Right, I need to force Dumbledore out, somehow. Um--"_

_"All right, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" a muffled voice declared._

_Ruby groaned. "Of all the memories you could have picked. Which means Mercury is going to step out of that tunnel right about now."_

_A silver-haired man stepped out of a nearby junction, a cocky smirk on his face._

_"Okay, Dumbledore, you want to give me a challenge?" Ruby braced herself. "Fine."_

_"It looks like our first contender is... Penny Polendina from Atlas..."_

_Ruby ignored the muffled voice, trying to focus her willpower. "Out, out, out, get out, get out, get out--"_

_"And her opponent will be Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"_

_"Out out out how do I get you out--"_

_"Oooooh, polarity versus metal." Mercury rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That could be bad."_

_"Yeah, fine, whatever." Ruby curled her fists up. "Okay, if I can't just will myself out, maybe I can break the memory by beating you up. Will that work?"_

_"Fighters, are you ready?"_

_She rolled her eyes. "Right, figure it out yourself Ruby." With a deep breath, she took a stance and lunged forward, fist swinging--_

_"3, 2, 1, begin!"_

_\--and the man caught her hand, deflecting it easily. There was a faint flicker to his face, as though he should have spoken but also should not have._

_"Aha." Ruby nodded to herself. "So that does work, neat."_

_Her legs slammed into Mercury's knees, she elbowed his gut, grabbed his arm, smashed him into a wall, and... for a brief moment his form was confused, warping through various poses, before suddenly she was much further down the hall, reaching out for the door. "Okay, so I'm not too late am I? All I have to do is stop--"_

_She rushed out, her eyes on the arena... and froze. "No... no, that... I got past Mercury, I--"_

_"This is a memory," Dumbledore reminded her sadly. "You can remember it differently, but it is still based on events engrained in your mind."_

_Ruby fell to her knees, staring at the horrified Pyrrha, and the sparking remains of Penny. "I should have been faster... I should have..."_

_" _This is **not**  a tragedy." A new voice, over the speakers, began to lecture in unnerving calm. "This was  **not**  an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your  _children_ , to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than  _men_. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here?"__

__Ruby's eyes narrowed, glaring at the black queen on a red background that filled the screens._ _

__"One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl? I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference. And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching _his_  students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."_ _

__"How dare you..."_ _

__"Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his _colossal_  failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong."_ _

__"You did this."_ _

__"But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... _equally_  undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet  _we_ , the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"_ _

__"SHUT **UP!"**_ _

She jolted with a gasp, the academy suddenly shattering as her eyes snapped open and whirled wildly about. A few shallow breaths, then one or two deep ones, and her hands released the armrests of her chair slowly.

"...Right." Ruby swallowed. "Right... Okay. Okay, I... I need a moment here..."

"I... understand." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "My word... I have heard similar speeches before, but they never grow any less disturbing."

"That... whole scenario was crafted. The Grimm, they... they're attracted to negativity. Fear, anger, hatred..." Ruby shook her head, tears in her eyes. "That was the Vytal Tournament. All four kingdoms sent their best students to participate, the world was watching, and she... Cinder Fall, she... she knew, somehow. She had the randomizer rigged. She had that speech ready. She--"

"Ruby."

"...that was the start of my last night on Remnant," the woman whispered. "I saw one of my friends accidentally kill another... and I had to put it away immediately, just to have a chance of saving my home from destruction. I don't know if Vale survived, Albus. I don't know if  _anyone_  did. I saw plenty of people die--"

"Ruby," Dumbledore repeated gently. "I'm afraid we're not done."

Ruby blinked, looking at him with a curious mix of fear and resignation.

"That last moment. What you felt..." He cleared his throat. "Not back then, but just now, when you were in the memory. That was enough to shove me out. Not the anger," he assured her quickly, "but the passion, the... strength of will. You need to find that again, if you are to learn how to tune your mind, how to resist legilimancy."

"...so we're going to have another--"

"Yes."

Ruby swallowed. "...okay. I don't like it, but okay." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Let's... get this over with."

Again the wand was raised and  _she was running, running through the streets, slicing up Grimm as she passed. Every so often a corpse caught her attention, every so often she managed to hold off a beowolf and let the beleaguered civilians escape, but it was still all so much to live through..._

_...again..._

_"Memory. Passion. Force him out." Ruby managed to nod as she came to the exclusionary zone. "Alright, so it wasn't the anger, but the strength of will, what does that mean?"_

_The black and white corgi noticed her and barked in relief, bringing Weiss's attention around. "Ruby!"_

_"Oh yeah, this part." Ruby winced. "Passion, passion, passion--"_

_"Ruby, where have you--?"_

_"Weiss, I'm trying to force myself_ out _of this memory, please let me focus!"_

_Weiss glanced away somberly, stepping aside. There, as she remembered, rested her sister, unconscious and down an arm. Her teammate was murmuring... something, lying too close to her for Ruby to hear._

_"Hey." Sun walked over, his face sympathetic. "She's going to be okay. The soldiers have a ship ready to take you to Vale."_

_Ruby clutched her head. "Okay, focus. Willpower--"_

_"But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing!" Nora cried, struggling to get up._

_"Look guys, that giant Grimm is circling the school! Even the White Fang are pulling out! We all have to go,_ now!"

_"We're not leaving...!" Ren tried to stand, but collapsed to his knees with a grunt._

_"Okay, how do I do this? When I told Cinder to shut up I was... hyperfocused, right?"_

_"No!" Weiss shouted. "WE will find them. Watch after Blake and Yang, we'll be back."_

_"You better be!" Sun shouted after them as they rushed away._

_"Okay. Let's focus on one thing." Ruby shook her head, not quite tracking as her scythe sliced through another beowolf. "What do we focus on?"_

_The sound of ringing caught her attention, and she turned to see Weiss pulling out a pane of glass. "It's Jaune! Where are you?"_

_"Weiss! Please, you have to stop her!"_

_Ruby frowned. "Wait, did we just skip over our fighting through--?"_

_"Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower! She doesn't have a chance!"_

_"Jaune, what are you talking about?"_

_Ruby inhaled. "Cinder and Pyrrha's fight... I want to get out of this memory before I get to that."_

_"Don't worry about me!" Jaune shouted. "Please, you have to save Pyrrha..."_

_"We will," Weiss assured him. "Are you okay? Jaune? JAUNE!"_

_"We didn't," Ruby murmured, even as a massive draconic grimm perched on a nearby arch. "Two seconds too late... Two seconds, and maybe it wouldn't have been worth it but I could have done something...."_

_Weiss smiled, drawing her sword. "You always do." She fought off a few more of the grimm, setting glyphs up the tower's side. "You can do this."_

_"No I can't!" Ruby couldn't stop her body rushing up the path made for her. "Focus, focus, focus, get out get out, I don't want to see this again! Get out of my head get out of my head focus focus focus--"_

_She vaulted the top of the tower and saw Pyrrha, kneeling with an arrow in her ankle. Her green eyes stared up, defiantly meeting the cold golden eyes of a woman in a red dress._

_"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." The woman clasped Pyrrha's chin, almost maternally. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."_

_Pyrrha pulled her face away. "Do you believe in destiny?"_

_Ruby sighed. "I really shouldn't have interrupted you should I?"_

_Cinder snapped her eyes to the interloper, her arm springing alight as she rose it. Pyrrha blinked and lunged forward in one last desperate motion, wrapping her own form around the burning limb--_

**__**ETHERAL ESSENCE EXPOSED,**_ ONE MOMENT LOCKED FOREVER, EVEN FAINT REFLECTION SHINING BEYOND--_ **

Ruby snapped back into the headmaster's office, shaking her head and blinking. "That--oh. Oh wow, that... yeah. Wow. Huh... wait, hold on, we're not in my memory anymore? Dumbledore, what--?"

Her words caught in her throat when her eyes fell on Dumbledore, slumped in his chair and taking haggard breaths. "Oh geeze, I--I didn't mean to--are you--?!"

"I'll--I'll be fine, miss Rose." The old man took a deeper breath. "Such... well... that... whatever that was, it was certainly..." He adjusted his glasses. "In all my years... in all my years, I have rarely encountered so much raw power."

"Yeah, I still don't know what happened myself. I mean, I remember suddenly feeling..." Ruby frowned. "...it was... I'm not sure how to describe it. I mean... it  _started_  with the desperation of seeing my friend about to die, after all that had gone on, but that was just the spark, and... then it all gets muddled. I felt... it wasn't unfamiliar exactly, it was as if something I'd been feeling my whole life was magnified, and it overwhelmed me--and then something else met it, and then... it all got twisted and, I'm not sure, I just... There was light. A lot of light. It started out silver, then it was white, then it was... veiny, and then it was wispy and... I wound up somewhere in the woods southwest of Surrey, and I wandered around a bit before finding a road."

She gave him a wary look. "So... yeah, that is my last memory of Remnant. Do... does that give you... anything to go on?"

"...perhaps." The old man considered her for a moment. "...Yes, perhaps indeed. Though I must warn you, I have no true ideas right now, only the faintest glimmerings of possibilities. I shall have to look into a number of sources before I can give you any actual results.

"Well... thank you, I guess."

"It is a distinct pleasure, I assure you. Now then, as to what this means for your occlumency lessons..." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I can safely say that whatever you were feeling in that moment is enough to push out even the most persistent of intruders. That does not mean we shouldn't continue, mind; I've been mostly obvious with my memory searching, but legilimens who wish to be more subtle might slip your notice."

"I'll be honest, I'm mostly worried about seeing things that aren't there."

"Mmm. We'll have to cover that too... I have mostly been laying down the fundamentals." The headmaster leaned into his chair. "I will... need to consider where to take these lessons... Perhaps it would be best for us to take some time off from our meetings."

"Alright." Ruby stood up. "...are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, yes. I'm not as frail as I look, miss Rose." He managed a gentle smile. "Go ahead and have a good night's sleep, will you? Or as good a night as you can, after all that."

"...I'll try, professor." With a nod, and one final worried look, she stepped out of the room.

Dumbledore waited until the door was shut to tap his wand against his head. A silver thread came free, was carefully stored into a bottle, and placed on a shelve along many others akin to it.

He looked at the writhing contents for a moment, then down at the bowl around which the shelves were arrayed. His eyes drifted across the various instruments and devices scattered around the room.

"...Silver light..." Dumbledore shook his head with a small sigh. "That really doesn't narrow anything down, does it now?"


	16. A Time For Gifts and Fellowship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have never celebrated Boxing Day or Non-descript Winter Holiday

"So... you're not going home for christmas?"

Ron shrugged. "Mum and dad are taking Ginny down to visit my brother Charlie in Romania. He works on a dragon reserve, you know? It's really cool!"

"Dragons... right, dragons exist." Ruby tapped her plate with her fork. "Do they... attack people often?"

"Oh, nah. Well, not any more than most wild animals." The boy loaded his plate with more sweets. "Don't get me wrong, they're right dangerous. Magic-resistant skin, for one--I don't understand the details myself, but a lot of spells bounce off them. Plus they're bloody big beasts that fly and breath fire. So they're not afraid of humans like most animals, but they also aren't naturally vicious or anything. That's what Charlie says, anyway."

"Hrm."

"...is something wrong?" Maxine asked.

"Oh, just..." Ruby let out a low sigh. "...back during the attack--the one that got me lost from my home--I'm pretty sure I saw... something that looked like a dragon, attacking people."

Ron whistled low. "Cor... hey, maybe Charlie could tell you what breed of dragon it was."

"What?"

"I mean, if there was a dragon around, it had to come from somewhere, right? If we can figure out what breed of dragon it was and where it came from, maybe that would help you narrow down your search."

Ruby sighed. "It's not that easy, Ron."

"But it's worth a shot, isn't it? Tell you what, if you can sketch up that dragon before hols, I'll send the picture off to Mom and she can ask Charlie."

Ruby rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "...you know, there is that statue of a griffon... you know what, it's worth looking into, I guess. That was one weird-looking dragon, though, I'm not sure he'll be able to identify it."

"Well, there are only... what, ten breeds of dragon in the world?" Ron pointed out.

"Alright, alright, I'll sketch it up. You've convinced me. Well done, Ronald."

Maxine gave her a strange look. "What was that about a griffin?"

"There's a griffon statue in front of the headmaster's office."

"And what does that have to do with the dragon?"

Ruby gave her a wry grin. "I saw a griffon eat a man alive. One bite."

"...You're making that up."

"Nope."

"You're definitely making that up, you didn't even know about magic until you came here!"

"This is true, and yet, gulp."

"Griffins aren't nearly big enough to pull that off!"

"This one was."

Maxine crossed her arms. "I don't believe you."

Ruby shrugged, turning back to her food. "Your loss."

" _I_  believe you," Ron offered.

"Thank you, Ron. Oh!" She smiled at the boy approaching the table. "Harry! How are things?"

"They're going pretty well," Harry admitted casually. "Aside from Draco's desperate attempts to bully me. I mean, he's kind of irritating, but... I dunno, he hasn't swung any punches or anything. Hermione's not getting ratted at for being pedantic anymore, after the troll thing... and, uh... I mean, I guess everything's pretty normal. For a magic school, I mean."

"I know, right?" Maxine rolled her eyes. "I mean magic is cool and all, but where's all the adventure? Hogwarts is supposed to be famous for it, and the most that has happened this year is the boy-who-lived dragging his dangerous sister along."

"Don't let the twins hear you," Ron said warningly. "They might take it as a challenge."

"I for one am glad that there's not some secret conspiracy to undermine everything," Ruby declared. "Went through that once already. Did NOT end well, let me tell you."

Harry sat down next to her. "Oh, are you finally going to tell other people?"

"...It's one of those things where I don't want to but can't think of a good reason why not," Ruby admitted. "But... I'll try to figure it out over christmas break."

"You'd better. If Hermione comes back and you're not willing to talk, who knows what she'll do?"

"Hopefully nothing too drastic. Hey, Harry, do you want to go back to the Dursleys or stay here?"

Harry pondered. "I mean... Dudley's alright, but... the other two are kinda... can we just send him presents and stay here?"

"But the greatest present is time with family!"

"But it's a magic castle, sis! And we might find something cool if we stick around!"

Ruby sighed. "I'm going to have to stay just to keep you rascals from getting into trouble, aren't I?"

"Well, Fred and George are staying..."

"Fine." Ruby threw up her hands. "Fine, fine, we'll stay. Don't want them burning down Hogwarts in the middle of winter."

"Thanks sis! You're the best!"

Ruby rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not telling you what your present this year is."

"But--"

"No, Harry, you'll have to wait and see like everybody else."

"But sis!"

"Nope."

"Come on, big sis, pleeeeeeeease?"

"Harry James Potter, do you want me to take up caroling again?"

Harry paled. "N...no..."

"Then you'll drop it."

"Yes ma'am."

Maxine blinked. "But I've heard you sing, Ruby, you're actually pretty good."

"At singing? Yes. At caroling..."

"What's the difference?"

"DON'T ASK." Harry shuddered. "Just... don't."

* * *

As the holidays drew closer, the chatter of various students grew excited... for the most part. Ruby discovered that the Hufflepuff higher-years had an informal tradition of keeping an ear out; whenever they heard of anyone who didn't seem so eager to head home, they'd ask the house elves to leave anonymous little candies on their pillowcases, or notes of encouragement and welcoming, or whatever they thought would work best.

"Let's be real," Nym said dryly during one of their training sessions, "there are some real pieces of work out there. People who don't treat their own flesh and blood with the respect and care they deserve. That's why we do this."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ruby agreed. "Family for the ones whose own family isn't family."

"Said Hufflepuff, 'I'll teach the lot, and treat them just the same.' Not sure where that quote came from, but it's what we're known for--aside from loyalty and the whole 'background wizard' thing." Nym twisted up her leg. "Actually, that may be the whole reason we're called background wizards? Cause, you know, we take the average people?"

"Average, she says." Ron gasped, collapsing. "Cor, you, you're a metamorphamagus training under a crazy woman with a gun scythe who raised Harry bloody Potter!"

"Statistically speaking, Hufflepuff is  _less_  likely to be average," Hermione pointed out. "If each house takes those of their own defining trait--I mean, if you're normal But Brave, you go to Gryffindor, and if you're normal But Ambitious, you go to Slytherin, but bravery and ambition and intelligence are, strictly speaking, fairly normal forms of specialization... whereas if you're normal but something else, like a Metamorphamagus or whatever Ruby is, then you end up in Hufflepuff with all the other unique... um... unique uniquenesses..." She frowned to herself. "I was sure I had something there."

"No, I got what you mean," Ruby assured her. "Of course, that math assumes that everyone has only one defining trait which, I'm sure you'll agree, isn't true at all."

"I suppose."

"Actually, speaking of the tradition, are you headed home for the holidays?"

Hermione nodded, wincing as she stretched. "I do have a loving mother and father, and while I feel for those who lack such people in their lives I don't think I could spend this time away from them."

"And you are a kid on top of that so it would be kind of unreasonable, I suppose." Ruby hummed thoughtfully. "You know what, I'll give you your present before you go, if you promise not to open it until christmas."

Hermione blinked. "You got me a present?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Why?"

"I'm training you, aren't I?"

Hermione gave her a wary look. "It's not some kind of fancy sword gun thing, is it?"

"Nah, you're too young for that sort of thing."

The curly-haired witch gave a sigh of relief.

"Nym, how about you, are you sticking around for christmas?"

"Nah, family too. I won't be leaving until friday, though."

"Hmm...."

* * *

"Nym! Glad I caught you. Got a minute?"

Nymphadora glanced up from her trunk. "Sure? The Hogwarts Express leaves in an hour, though, so--"

"I'll be quick," Ruby assured her. "I just wanted to give you my christmas gift before you go. It's... not exactly something you can wrap."

"Uh... Ruby, I'm flattered, really, but I'm not..." The girl swallowed awkwardly. "Uh, you're a woman and older and I, uh, I don't--"

Ruby frowned, producing something from behind her back. "You don't want this? But I spent so long making her."

"OH, you were talking about a sword! Oh, thank god, I completely misinterpreted that."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"What... what did you think I wanted to give you?"

Nymphadora opened her mouth, looked at Ruby's genuinely confused expression, and laughed awkwardly. "You know what, it's not important. So, you're giving me a sword?"

"Yep. Hold out your arm--not your wand arm, your other arm."

"You're not going to cut it off, are you?" Nym asked, warily stretching her arm out.

"No, don't worry." Ruby held the blade parallel to the limb. "I based her off a xiphos, so it... is just about the right length, yes." She produced a small band and wrapped it around the witch's wrist. "See, I was thinking, you want to be an auror right?"

"Yeah?"

"But the criminal wizards you'll be sent up against will try to get rid of your wand. So having a backup weapon up your sleeve... or on your sleeve, if you're not wearing robes, that will come in handy." Ruby held the sword against her arm, nodding to herself. "Now, I don't want you to practice unsheathing this until you get back, but I want you to at least get used to the weight--"

"Back up." Nymphadora pushed her away, an odd look on her face. "You  _made_  this?"

"Yeah, there's a smithy near the armory. It took me a bit to clean it up, and it's pretty basic--"

"You made me a sword." Nymphadora looked at the weapon, running her finger over the rod in the center. "With... is this sword like your scythe? Does it fold up?"

"She's not nearly so complicated," Ruby assured her. "She does shift into a firearm configuration, so you can shoot things if you need to... I'm not going to give you ammunition until you get back though."

"You want to make sure I train with it, right?"

"That, and they don't actually sell bullets down in Hogsmeade." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Who would have thunk it? I'm going to have to do some shopping over the break."

"Wow." Reverently, the witch took the short sword and held it up. "I mean... wow, you made me a sword."

"I'll level with you, it was mostly to get back into practice. You know, for when Harry's ready to make his own weapon."

"...I'm not even mad. Thanks, Ruby. I... this sword looks wicked."

"Papillonima."

"What?"

"That's her name," Ruby explained. "Papillonima. I hope you don't mind, I would have let you name her if you had designed her..."

"Papillonima..." Nymphadora swung the sword experimentally, once or twice. "That's... actually pretty cool. Yeah." She put the sword down on her bed, turning to Ruby and wrapping her in a hug. "Thanks."

"Heh." Ruby hugged her back, ruffling her hair. "Happy holidays, Nym."

* * *

Christmas morning rolled around, much to the jubilation of the children who stayed. The Hufflepuffs gathered after breakfast for castle caroling, much to Harry's trepidation when he heard--he gave a sigh of relief when he realized Ruby was, for once, letting the others lead the carols. After that came the true reason for their eagerness--the exchange of gifts from friends and family.

Ron unfurled a poster and looked it over. "Wow. Um... The Kenmare Kestrel Keeper! Cool!"

"Yeah, Finola Macmillan." Ruby shrugged. "I know you're a quidditch fan, so I figured... why not?"

"I mean... I'm more of a Chudly Cannon fan--"

Max scoffed in disbelief. "The Chudly Cannons are a load of garbage!"

"Hey!" Ron stood up. "You take that back!"

Ruby quickly interjected herself between the two of them. "Hey, hey, this is christmas, right? Peace on earth and all that? Let's not go around bringing down each other's teams."

The older student rolled her eyes, but went back to examining her new bat without a comment. "This is pretty good quality, Ruby. Where'd you get it?"

"Oh, I made it myself. I mean, I had to double-check the regulations..." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it was pretty basic."

"...you made this?" Max held the bat away warily. "It doesn't turn into a gun, does it?"

"No! Just because I  _can_  make multishift weaponry doesn't mean I make  _everything_  into a gun! Besides, that would be against regulations."

"There's actually a regulation for that?"

"Yep. And a regulation against putting a metal core in the bat. And a regulation for giving it a return enchantment... Actually, going through the list of regulations just for  _making_  a bat makes me wonder just what kind of nonsense happened in quidditch matches past."

"It's a right tough sport," Ron agreed. "...I guess Finola isn't actually a bad player. And this is a pretty cool poster. Thanks, Ruby."

"Not a problem. Do you all mind if I head out with Harry, though? Bro-sis christmas time."

Ron gave her a look. "I thought you didn't want to be known as the mom-student."

"Hanging out with family doesn't make her a mom-student," Max pointed out.

"Yeah, that's fair."

Ruby gave him a wry grin. "You just don't want to be the only one in the room wearing a Weasley jumper, do you?"

Ron looked from his hand-knitted pullover, to the one Ruby wore. The age and body shape of the two of them necessitated many differences, and Ruby's was more of a... well, ruby, than maroon. But the letter emblazoned on each of their chests was identical.

"...you know, all my brothers are in Gryffindor. Why don't I come with you?"

* * *

Harry looked over his various gifts. "Wow. I mean, I know having more friends means more presents, but..."

Ruby's smile was slightly sad. "Yeah... guess that's my fault."

"What?"

"If we... if I hadn't taken you globetrotting, you'd probably have a much more stable home life, more friends--"

"But I'd miss out hanging with my cool big sis! And besides, you got me cool stuff from around the world."

"...like that Cutey Honey outfit?"

Harry flushed, glancing warily at the other Gryffindors across the room. "Rubyyyyyy..."

"Whaaaaaat?" Ruby grinned broadly. "You looked so cute dancing around in it--"

"I was four!"

"You kept wearing it until you outgrew it. Six and a half, I think it was--"

"I passed it off as a shirt!"

Ruby tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You know, we are at a magic school. Maybe I could dig it out and find some spell that'll make it your size again--"

Harry groaned. "Sis... please."

She giggled. "Alright, alright, but you know you'd look good in anything, right?"

"Mrrngh." Harry lowered his voice. "The skirts were just a phase."

"Whatever you say," Ruby replied loftily. "So, what did you get, anyway?"

"Well, Hagrid apparently carved me a flute, which is nice. I don't know how to play, though, so I'll have to figure that out. Dudley sent me this hat, since I'm a wizard and all... I mean, it's a costume hat, but I don't think anybody's noticed. Hermione got me some sweets, and Ron's mom got me this sweater. There's also..."

His voice lowered. "There's an anonymous package."

Ruby quirked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. That's weird, right?"

"Mmmm... not entirely," Ruby mused. "I mean, you are apparently the Boy-Who-Lived. Maybe it's just an anonymous fan who's too shy to talk to you."

"I guess." Harry put the box on his lap, shrugging. "Well, here we go." He opened it, taking the note off of the fabric inside. "'This belonged to your father, and now I return it to its rightful owner. May you use it well.' Okay, that's strange."

"That's Dumbledore's handwriting," Ruby pointed out.

"Wait, really?"

"I go to his office for help with goblin paperwork, I recognize that handwriting."

"Then why didn't he just put 'from Dumbledore' on the package?"

Ruby frowned. "I guess he could just want to avoid causing a fuss about special treatment..."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Harry took the silvery silk cloth from the box, shaking it out to its full size. "Oh hey! It's a cloak!"

"Well, you can't go wrong with cloaks. Useful things."

"Yeah." Harry swept it over his shoulders, wrapping it around himself. "How do I look?"

Ruby stared at him. "Uh... you don't, actually. The cloak is  _definitely_  magic."

"Huh?" He glanced down at the fabric. "Wait, wow! I'm invisible!"

"Yeah, that's... that's something, alright." Ruby sighed. "I'm going to have to talk to the headmaster about this as well, aren't I?"

Harry looked up at her. "What...?"

"I mean, just..." Ruby considered him for a moment. "...You promise if you get into trouble with that thing, you'll tell me?"

"Um... sure."

"Good. Why don't you pack it up for now? I haven't given you  _my_  present yet."

"I mean, you could just give it to me--"

"Actually, it's a few floors down." Ruby leaned in with a conspiratorial grin. "I've been bringing the smithy here up to snuff."

Harry inhaled. "Wait, are... are you saying I can finally make my weapon?"

"I'm saying you can  _start designing_  your weapon. But that'll take a few lessons, and if you're not up for that--"

"No, no, I'm good! Let's get wrapped up here and head downstairs!"

* * *

"Headmaster!"

Dumbledore turned as he stepped out of a classroom. "Ah, miss Rose! Whatever are you doing wandering the halls?"

"Right now, I'm looking for you. Professor McGonagall said you'd be down here." Ruby crossed her arms. "So... invisibility cloak?"

"Ah. Yes, as part of my efforts to protect Harry from his fame, I did take some of the Potter family heirlooms into my possession. Of course, I intended to return them all when the boy came of age--and before you ask, yes, I did intend to give him the cloak this year before I knew about you." The old man adjusted his glasses. "I take it you'll want to look into that as well."

"Yes, just as a matter of principle. Still, though... you gave an invisibility cloak to a child." Ruby gave him a wry grin. "You know how much trouble he could get into with that?"

"Oh, quite a bit. His father was quite the troublemaker... but I presume you've got a handle on the situation."

She threw up her hands. "Yes, I've got a handle on the situation, because something about this school keeps making situations I have to get a handle on. First he gets drafted into Quidditch, and then he gets attacked by a troll, now this... how many other students get caught up in things like that?"

"How many other students have you as a personal mentor?"

"...Touché."

"Incidentally, might I say your gifts to the staff were inspired? I don't think we've all received uniquely coloured pouch belts before, and they are quite well constructed."

"Yeah, I found a good shop in America a few years ago, convinced them to take mail-order commissions... They do good work. Got them to make my present for Petunia too."

"Oh?"

Ruby hummed in amusement. "Let's just say Vernon might be in for a fun night."

Albus rose his brows. "I wouldn't have expected you to order that sort of thing."

"I'm a mature adult, Dumbledore."

"I... don't know if Petunia is exactly the sort who would accept that kind of gift."

"You think she wouldn't like custom sheets?" Ruby asked innocently.

The headmaster opened his mouth, paused, and shook his head. "Ruby Rose... you are certainly a special one."

"Thanks!" Ruby chirped. She looked at the room he'd stepped out of. "Huh, there are a lot of empty rooms in this castle."

"A remnant of older days, before the statute of secrecy."

"Yeah, that thing..." Ruby stepped past him. "What were you doing in here anyway?"

"Working with a unique magical artifact." Dumbledore stepped in after her. "The Mirror of Erised."

"Fancy name," Ruby allowed, turning to the mirror. "What does it...?"

She trailed off for a moment, her eyes falling on the vision before her. Her old team, and team JNPR, and Zwei, and Penny, and Harry, and Hermione and Ron and Nym, all walking the undamaged streets of Vale, with her father joining them armed with a plate of sweets.

"...professor," she said, hesitantly, "what... am I seeing?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Perhaps you should read the inscription on the frame.

Ruby tore her gaze away, looking up. "'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi'. That's... not nonsense, some of those words are familiar. On... oh, this is a mirror, it's backwards... 'I show not your face, but your...'"

Her eyes fell back on the scene. "Ah."

"Many have wasted in front of it, unwilling to accept the visions it gives as fantasy. Some have even been driven mad at seeing something impossible to achieve." Dumbledore stepped up next to her, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It isn't wrong to desire things... but to let them consume you--"

"--yes, I know. I've... seen what hyperfocus can do." She glanced at him. "What do you see, when you look in?"

"...I see myself, wearing a pair of woolen socks."

"Ha. Alright, I guess that was a bit of a personal question." Ruby sighed, looking into the mirror. "I suppose we all have personal tragedies we'd like undone."

"Past a certain age, yes."

"All the same... What I'm seeing would be difficult. Almost impossible. But... if I can get back..." She managed a faint smile. "...there might be the smallest chance it could happen."

Dumbledore smiled somberly. "You're fortunate, then."

"In more ways than one." Her fingers reached out, meeting the illusionary palms of her sister, her partner, and her friend. "Take care of each other, girls. Just a little longer, I promise."

With a deep breath, she turned away, walking out the door.


End file.
